Falling Stars
by Bill Morgenthien
Summary: The Crucible has fired, irrevocably changing the very definition of existence. How can those who survived come to terms with a galaxy where everything has changed? Post-Synthesis.
1. Emerald Dawn (Prologue)

**Prologue: Emerald Dawn**

The allied fleet was in chaos. Wounded ships vented atmosphere, casualties and glittering _eezo_ across the sky above Earth. Reapers, some damaged, but most intact, hung in space unimaginably ancient and terrifying even in their smallest movements. They did not pursue the ships now fleeing the system. Did they understand what was about to happen, or did they simply not care? That thought was beyond the captains and crews of the departing ships. Among those who remained, such a thought was further still. Those whose ships were too damaged to flee marveled at the sight unfolding across their monitors and through their view ports. Silently or not, each of those left behind prayed to their Spirits, their Gods, Goddesses, and Ancestors, not knowing if their next breaths would be their lasts.

Spinning open, the Citadel caught the reflected light of Luna along the vast expanses of the Wards, the petals of this mechanical flower. At its heart, the Crucible distorted the space around it, gathering dark energy from this and other nearby dimensions, building in power. The pulses started slowly as waves cascading along the Wards towards the Presidium and the Crucible. The waves built in power and speed, matching the distortions coming from the Crucible, both racing to the point in space at the very center of the Presidium ring. Every ounce of light began to dim as the waves of dark energy built around that point, a rising crescendo of overwhelming force. For those left alive in the Wards of the Citadel, the power was deafening, each wave seemingly pulling the very life from their bodies as they curled into fetal positions where they had stood.

As massive as the buildup had become, it vanished in but a heartbeat. For two more heartbeats, a deathly stillness lingered. Suddenly, the entire orbit of Earth was bathed in brilliant light, as if Sol had exploded into a nova. An emerald dawn blinding every living and unliving thing in the sky. A light without heat that penetrated hull, barrier, skin and bone as if nothing material could hinder its passage. Earth shuddered in the wave of light, as if reluctant to surrender the violence and death on her surface. The broken ships surrounding the Citadel were cast about as leaves in an Autumn storm. The wave rippled out from the Citadel, a massive beam could be seen at its core, a radiant pillar the width of the opened station, stretching from Earth into the depths of space. Nearly 40 AU from Earth the beam incinerated the dwarf moon Nix and slammed into the Charon Mass Relay which reacted violently. All three containment rings on the ancient device began to spin at incredible velocities. The mechanically fluid symmetry of the massive object gave way to a shaking and chaotic flexing as the Relay fought to contain, direct and add to the energy pouring through it. The silvery metal of the arcane machine reflected the jade beam connecting the relay to the Citadel, the millions of components and angles of its surface bent and shifted the light, turning the device into a gemstone hanging in space.

The emerald waves rushed along the surface of every object in the Sol system, expanding outwards. As the wave surged away from the Crucible, it gained speed, shifting into other spectrums as it exceeded light speed. Even invisible, its passage was just as penetrating and just as unyielding. In its wake, the fundamental chemistry of creation was altered. Organic and inorganic lost meaning, carbon and silica became interchangeable, biochemical interactions flowed with quantum states and electron charges, amino acids and polymer chains became one. Where organic life and inorganic machine once stood separate, dark mirrors of each other, now they stood as one. Plant, animal, machine, and mineral became something else. Where respiration and consumption once fueled life, now some of those could draw energy from heat, light, sound, and kinesis, even others could perform all of those. The distinction between creator and created was replaced by the relationship of parent and child. The flaws of one were burned away by the strengths of the other. In the first few moments of this new reality, possible and impossible were suddenly and irrevocably redefined.

Back in Earth orbit, the Crucible began to heave under the strain of powering the massive wave. Slowly, stress fractures began to race along the sphere and tower that comprised the weapon. Instead of releasing its remaining energy upon the planet below, the power was directed inward, folding space along infinite dimensions. The Crucible began to implode. As the great weapon shuddered in its cradle atop the Presidium ring, the beam began to flicker, its power source dying. With a green-white flash, the Crucible collapsed into a single atom and ceased to exist in this dimension. The beam faded as it raced away from the Citadel, almost a rainfall in reverse barreling into the heavens. As the Citadel was left behind in darkness, one last brilliant comet of emerald energy raced after the fading beam, chasing it into space.

As the last ounces of energy flowed into the Mass Relay, the containment rings aligned and locked. A new beam, as brilliant and powerful as the first, erupted from the edge of the relay into space beyond, immediately shifting beyond both the visible spectrums and the barrier of lightspeed. It arced across space in the blink of an eye, the beam reappearing and connecting to the Arcturus Stream Relay. The power burst into the new relay, and caused an identical green pulse to erupt from the core, spreading across every object in the Arcturus Stream and surging outward. Just as it had done to the Charon Relay, the energy began rebuilding as the Arcturus containment rings churned with speed. The final gasps of energy reached Arcturus and the Charon Relay darkened, its containment rings shattered, drifting away from the station. From Arcturus, the process repeated again, connecting to each of the ancient Mass Relays across the galaxy. Each connection matched to a pulse of green energy and a beam connecting to the next system until no more systems and no more relays were left to connect. The last relay to fire, the enigmatic Omega 4 Relay, poured all of its remaining energy coreward to be absorbed by the cluster of black holes and stellar nurseries at the heart of the galaxy, forever changing the very building blocks of life in the Milky Way.

* * *

**Author's Notes (10/4/13):** _This is an exercise in writing for me. Tired of the glamorizing of technical proposals and tedious political debate, I have decided to venture into the realm of fiction with what has become my favorite Science Fiction universe, Mass Effect. Possibly lost amidst the great volume of such works on FanFiction (over 13,000 as of this writing) it may simply be an exercise in vanity. However, having read a fair amount of the stories in the community, I noticed a distinct lack of those depicting "my decisions" and even fewer addressing the post-Reaper War of the Synthesis ending. I know there's quite a bit of resentment at some of the endings, even some very vocal ones about "space magic" and whatnot. However, looking at the series as a whole, the story was constantly moving towards one of acceptance of other cultures and species and a unification of the galaxy. That concept flew in the face of the ideal of the Reapers, where only their view of order existed, where the distinctiveness of each harvested cycle was washed away into the faceless shell of the Reaper. Even between Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3, steps were taken to reinforce that homogenous nature of the cycle (compare the last scene post-collector in ME2 vs. the Reaper flotilla above Earth.) The Synthesis ending, for me, was the logical conclusion of that path. From Ilos to Mnemosyne to Rannoch, and Javik's "Force of Evolution" soliloquy, Shepard was meant to see that our differences were not nearly as great as we believed them. The Paragon path led Shepard to take so many lives for so many causes that her only path to redemption had to be (to quote The Doctor) __**"Just this once, everyone lives."**_

_I'll post as frequently as I can until I run out of ideas. I have about six or so in the hopper as new chapters that need work. I don't know if there will be an over-arcing story in there, but maybe._

**Author's Notes (10/5/13):** _Corrected some typos and poor word choices on the re-read. Fixed the tense problems in the last section. _


	2. Awakenings

**Sol System - Earth - Day 0**

Lifting away from the conduit pillars, Harbinger headed for the organic fleet in orbit. While it knew they could not stop the cycle, the device their reserve fleets were guarding caused concern. Already the number of _Lessers_ that had fallen was far beyond what should have come to pass in this cycle. They had even succeeded in destroying _Masters_ in this cycle, starting with Nazarra, or as the organics called it, Sovereign. As _Eldest_, Harbinger now devoted significant attention to the remaining resistance. Ascending through the stratosphere, it pondered the waste below. The Shepard was amongst those attempting to seize the conduit, and now lay buried in the rubble of the organics' forces. Never before had it encountered such a vanguard amongst the organics, if it could have felt, Harbinger would be considered disappointed.

The allied fleets should not have been able to protect the device, but they were. The _Destiny Ascension _and her escorts, the _Nefrane _and the _Cybaen _stood as bastions protecting the Crucibe, with the Alliance First, Third and Fifth Fleets shielding the device with their very hulls. The organic fleets seemed not to care for their ships at all, refusing to drop out of formation even with severe damage. Harbinger devoted additional attention to the implication of these tactics. Did the organics truly believe the device would deliver them from Ascension? He directed queries to the _Catalyst Nexus_, requesting confirmation of tactics. It was answered with only a single thought, **"Continue."**

Three _Masters_ converged on the defense fleet from below the Southern pole of the planet. At their appearance, a dozen Geth cruisers appeared as they reverted from FTL, being dropped out by the collision failsafes of their Mass Effect cores. The _Masters_ looked upon these slave synthetics without concern, knowing that the technology the Reapers allowed these creatures to develop was bound still to their design. As they prepared to align their main batteries to fire upon the Crucible, they left the upstart synthetics to their defensive batteries and their _Lesser_ escorts. In their confidence, they did not realize until the first cruiser struck that the Geth did not deviate, nor slow on their intercept courses. Thousands of tons of disruptor bombs detonated in the shell of the cruiser, cracking its shell and imploding its Mass Effect core. The _Master_ was spun about by the explosion, its barriers severely weakened, when the second cruiser struck.

Harbinger concentrated on the flash, seeing the last moments of the Ascended Declanen, Somthaaw and Mezuranen as their Reapers exploded. The debris of the Geth warships were scattered as so much ash, falling towards the planet, even now the Geth intelligences within having already transferred to Dreadnaught behind the Crucible. Before it could react, a tone carried across the Reaper consciousness. The Catalyst was opened from within.

Harbinger shifted in its orbit and vectored towards the Catalyst. It sent repeated queries to the _Catalyst Nexus_ only to receive the response _**"Wait."**_ With the assault on the Crucible stalled after the loss of three _Masters_, the device began a docking approach to the Citadel. The remnants of its escort fleet, led by the Alliance Dreadnaughts _SSV Orizaba_ and _SSV Kilimanjaro_ flew tight along its flanks as the _Lessers_ continued their attempts to destroy the device.

**"**_**Cease aggression towards Crucible device. Analysis pending. Await commands." **_the Catalyst warned the Reaper fleet.

Harbinger moved closer to the Citadel and studied the device. The organics had accomplished much more since the last time it had seen this device. It recognized the dimensional aperture technology of the Insunnanon along the spire, melding seamlessly into quantum focusing core of the Arthen. In the cycles since those races had ascended, both the Prothean and the species of this cycle had added to the device. Looming above the core, Harbinger could barely see the figure of a human woman speaking with a manifestation that bore the power signature of the _Catalyst Nexus._ Harbinger halted as his thoughts came to grips with the evidence before it.

It had failed to destroy The Shepard.

It had failed.

It.

Failed.

Consumed with this concept, Harbinger did not pay attention to the organic fleets as they jumped to FTL. The Reaper fleet hung in space, querying both the _Catalyst Nexus_ and the _Eldest_ as to what they should do. At the edge of its awareness, Harbinger saw the image of The Shepard run towards the column of energy pouring from the Crucible. It could not answer the calls of the others, in confusion it repeated its queries to the _Catalyst Nexus._

One reply was sent, _**"Standby. Prepare for a new solution."**_

A new solution? Harbinger became aware of the emerald pulse of energy coming from the Crucible, expanding outwards towards it. There could be a new solution to the har...

_**- Discontinuity -**_

_The void stretched out beyond him. How many eons had it been since he had felt like this? Why was it so silent? Wasn't he supposed to hear his brother and sisters? What of the thralls? Why did everything feel so cold? No. There wasn't supposed to be a void anymore, there was no slumber. If he could slumber then something was wrong, wasn't it? Wait. Something is wrong._

_I am alone._

Thrum.

Harbinger's senses snapped into focus. In but a second, he found that he was hurtling sunward and halted his progress. _Why am I a He? _He spun to focus back towards the small planet around which the Catalyst was in orbit. _It is beautiful. The seas, so much like the homeworld, but too much land. Even as its cities burn, there is a quiet grace to it._ Harbinger was stunned by his own thoughts. Endless millennia had passed since such a thought was anything but an echo. He was the collective art, history, science, and thought of the Leviathan, he was not an individual. _Am I?_ _Individuality was something that belonged to the organics, he was a gestalt, an amalgam of all the minds that had been processed by his creation. He, no it, was part of the Reaper consciousness. _The consciousness was now quiet. He could not signal the _Catalyst Nexus. _He could see several _Masters_ and _Lessers_ retreating from the planet.

Thrum.

Reaching deep within his mind, Harbinger began to pull at the quantum threads which used to house his connection to the others. Slowly, he re-aligned them, unfamiliar with feeling of the substance they were now composed of. Much of his internal structure seemed to have been re-written somehow. While much was the same in shape and form, it all behaved differently. He needed to use the entangled particles in his navigation systems to try to contact the others.

Thrum.

* * *

**Utopia System - Eden Prime - Day 1**

Joker was surprised at how uncomfortable death was. He had always expected that after a lifetime of pain, death would be peaceful. You know, once you got over the actual horrific dying part. Though, truth be told, he didn't seem to recall the death being particularly horrific. It was fast and full of panic, but other than blacking out, it didn't leave a significant mental scar. Just an uncomfortable weight on his chest that had that weird plastic from an aerosol tube smell.

Beeeeep. Beep. Beep.

_Well_, Joker surmised, _I guess the boat has sailed on the whole Death thing if I can hear an Alliance distress beacon._ He opened his eyes.

The cockpit of the _SSV Normandy_ was dark. Aside from the faint glow of the emergency corridor lighting strips, the only illumination was from the beacon activity light on the black box to his left. Crash gel covered the pilot and co-pilot chairs, cocooning the occupants. Above, the blast plating had covered the viewports. Somewhere behind the cockpit, Joker could hear someone moving around. Thinking about how many bones he might break trying to cut out of the crash gel, he decided to wait for the assist. He knew it was already probably pretty bad for him, since his legs felt weird and warm. Not a good combination with a condition like his. Since he was only sore, he was pretty sure that the lack of pain was a pretty bad sign as well. Frankly, he was pretty amazed that he woke up if he was in that much shock.

"A little help" he called back into the ship.

Joker couldn't guess if the ship was buried on a moon or if they had actually made it to Eden Prime. His money was on Eden Prime, he was sure he caught the slingshot around Utopia after they got hit by that energy wave. He thought he was on crash approach for Eden Prime when he passed out from skimming the atmosphere. It was a green world after all. Or was it blue? Well, they were either on Eden Prime and could open a hatch, or they were on Nirvana and would suffocate in a few hours.

He risked a glance over at his co-pilot. Cushioned into the chair, EDI's head rested to one side, unmoving. Her hair, without the constraining field, was actually individual strands at the moment. Without power, Joker wasn't expecting her to be online, not without her processing hardware below decks. Funny, Joker thought, she really looked like she was sleeping and not powered down. He guessed Shepard's romantic streak was rubbing off on him.

"Had to go there, didn't you, you idiot?" Joker said out loud to himself.

He had left Shepard behind. Again.

After Tiptree, she was the only family he really had, and he left her on that station. When the order came through, he refused and closed on the Crucible. He remembered Ashley ordering him to break off then having to wrestle Liara back to the crew deck with Garrus. Even with a broken leg and likely a punctured lung, Liara was still loud enough to be heard as she screamed at him from the elevator "Don't you leave her again, Jeff! Don't you dare leave her!"

He remembered the cool hand on his shoulder, and EDI's whisper as the others left the bridge. "Shepard taught me by example. She would give up her life for each and every one of us, Jeff." she had leaned in an placed her hand on the side of his face. "She would never accept that we all gave our lives for her. She would want you to save Liara."

Joker blinked away the tears as the memories came back. He didn't know how he would ever face Liara again. He didn't know how he could face himself after leaving Shepard again.

"A little help." he repeated down the corridor.

"Are you in a hurry to find some other ship to crash, you Bosh'Tet?" came a cheerful reply from a few feet away. The orange-white glow of an omni-tool fabricated flashlight waved back and forth over the cockpit as the lithe Quarian engineer climbed over loose paneling and cables to get into the cockpit.

Joker breathed a little easier as he recognized the voice. "What an honor! I get cut out of a crash couch by our resident beauty queen." he joked.

"What are you going on about?" Tali replied, puzzled? "Did you hit your head or something? Is there a coolant leak in here that isn't showing up in my omni?" she inquired.

"Miss Vas Normandy? Beauty... Ah forget it, human joke." Joker sighed. "Good to hear you up and about. I can't move the chair or look over my shoulder at the moment, or I'd flash you my sanest smile. No head wound but may eardrums might be popped bad because you sound funny."

"I don't believe the words 'Joker' and 'Sane' are even in the same system, much less the same orbit." Tali chuckled. "We'll have you out of there in no time.

"Can you check on EDI, though? Maybe get her online. I want to make sure she didn't get whacked too bad when we crashed." Joker said with a bit too much concern in his voice.

"No can do at the moment. I scanned the ship when I climbed out of the crash couch in the CIC. The Tantalus core is cold. We've been without power for at least eight hours. Safety lighting and air scrubbers are running on compact hydrogen-oxygen fuel cells, and will for another 72 hours or so. Even if we had main power, it would take at least that long to bring the coolant system for the AI Core back up. All the super-cooled fluids have evaporated out of the heat sinks by now." Tali commented as she configured her omni-tool for safety cutter fabrication.

"Uh huh, so no sexy co pilot today is what you're telling me." Joker half-heartedly jibed.

"Not today, flyboy." Tali fabricated a small safety cutter from her omni-tool. She reached over and started to cut through the seams of the gel ejector at the sides of the pilot's chair. She repeated the action on the other side. "Hang on a second, I have to reach over you to pull the solidified shell away. I promise to be careful."

"Whatever you say, Admiral, you outrank me." Joker laughed and watched as Tali moved to his side and pulled at the gel cocoon. As she put the shell to the side of the cockpit where EDI's holo-terminal stood, he could see a glow coming from the collar of her suit. Suddenly he realized her suit helmet was open. "Tali! Your mask!"

Tali turned his seat around and looked at Joker. It was the first time he had ever seen a Quarian without a helmet. Tali had pale purple skin that darkened around her ears and neck. Her ears were softly pointed and close to the sides of her head in line with her high cheekbones. From the bridge of her narrow nose, two dark folds raced up her forehead like a second set of eyebrows joined to the first. Patterns of reflective spots ran along her cheeks and at the tip of her chin subtly shifting in the blue-white of her suit collar. Her jet black hair was longer than he had ever thought it would be inside a suit, but it was now tied back in the same way as Shepard had worn hers. Most striking of all, her violet rimmed eyes glowed, a bioluminescent lavender that he always thought was a HUD within her visor.

He gasped.

Self consciously, Tali turned away and started to pull up her hood. "I'm sorry" she stumbled. "My mask was shattered when I woke up. I can't get down to engineering to get my spare." Tali started swirling her hands nervously. "Honestly, I don't know why I haven't gone into anaphylactic shock."

Joker cleared his throat. "Um, about that human joke I said earlier?" he reached out to still her hand. "It totally applies. Damn, Tali, you're gorgeous! Were I not a taken man, I'd have to have some serious words with the Commander about all these hot tech-girls she keeps bringing aboard."

Tali laughed. "Thanks, you Bosh'Tet! After making me go all sick to my stomach thinking I'm some sort of monster to humans!" She lightly chucked him on the shoulder. "It's not like many people have ever seen my face outside my parents and, well, Garrus. But..."

"He's a Turian that likes taking rockets to the face for fun and profit. So his idea of good looking might not be all that, huh?" Joker chimed in. At that, they both laughed a little. "So how come you aren't hacking up a lung from the junk in our air?" he added.

"I'm not sure." Tali replied bringing up her omni-tool. "Look, from what I can tell, my in-suit immuno-stimulant software and dispensers are working fantastically" She brought up the display to show Joker. "Adaptations that normally take weeks are occurring in minutes. It's as if the software is directly re-writing my T-cells." She shrugged, lowering her arm but continuing to adjust the controls. "Hmm, I have a hunch." She waved the omni-tool over Joker's chest and legs. She furrowed her brows examining the display. "Do your legs feel odd to you?"

"Now that you mention it, I thought I might have broken them so badly that I wasn't feeling them from shock." Joker stretched his legs tentatively. "But they're only sore, no breaks that I can tell. But they're tingling."

"Do you have an emergency survival kit under your seat like the rest of the stations?" Tali asked, and began rummaging around under the pilot seat.

"I think so. It's on the maintenance checklist. You might have noticed I don't crawl around looking under chairs too often."

"Ah ha!" Tali pulled a sealed survival kit from under the chair. She cracked it open and pulled out the emergency nutrient tubes, handing them to Joker. "Here, you need to drink a couple of these until we can get down to Dr. Chakwas."

"Great. So what did your Engineer's Tool screw up and mis-diagnose is wrong with me?" Joker chided her while opening one of the tubes.

Tali popped up over the armrest and reversed the display so Joker could read it. "Oh, nothing. I just had it do a chemical analysis of your bones as part of an injury scan. It looks like your bones are synthesizing calcium and phosporous. The readings are increasing pretty significantly, so I thought you might be a bit peckish." she retorted. The look on Joker's face was worth the snark. "Check it yourself if you don't believe me." Tali held up the survival kit's emergency model omni-tool bracelet.

Joker was about to say something snarky and clever, but froze, hearing a sharp intake of air behind him.

"Jeff?"

* * *

**Author's Notes (10/8/2013): **Thanks go to _otvert_ on DeviantArt for an incredible galaxy map of the ME Milky Way. Plotting out some upcoming things made that my go-to tool for a few days.

This is more indicative of how the rest of the chapters will go. Different views of similar things. Time may jump around a bit more. The theme is more of exploring slices of what the Galaxy has become more than any specific plot or characterisation.

The hardest part so far is the number of times I have had to re-work dialogue. I read it back to myself again and again in the character's voice until I either trim the excess or add in tone that is missing.

Hope to have another chapter up by the end of the week. However, Comic-Con is Thursday and taking my daughter out to NYC for the day may kick some of my time in the head.


	3. Forward

**Sol System – Earth – Day 1**

The Reapers assembled on the far side of Sol, keeping the yellow star between their flotilla and Earth. They had towed the damaged Citadel with them, locking it in tidal balance in the same orbit as the third planet. _Lessers_ could be seen moving along the structure, repairing the wards of the damage left by the Crucible blast. The _Masters_ floated beyond the station, awaiting an answer. The purpose was gone and the harvest had ended. The Reapers had no direction. The clung to the old structures, looking to Harbinger, the _Eldest_ to lead them when the Catalyst fell silent.

Thrum.

Docked to the Presidium Tower, Harbinger sat like a spider at the heart of a web. He had known for hours what the answer to his brothers would be but hesistated in telling them. _Brothers? Is that the right concept now?_ Harbinger had never known inner conflict before. In truth, his sapience before was nothing like what he now knew. Before there was only purpose and only understanding of that purpose. He bore the entirety of collected knowledge of his former species but felt and understood none of it. He tended it as if a great library, whose tomes were never opened, a museum whose glass cases were all painted black.

Thrum.

The _Catalyst_ was gone.

Harbinger attached to the pedestal atop the Presidium Tower to verify what he had feared. Nothing remained of the core, burned out by the firing of the Crucible. Already the Keepers were busy in the ring itself, rebuilding the structures, repairing the Mass Relay controls, but the Great Intelligence within the tower was no more. At his urging, the Keepers were installing the quantum threads from the Nexus network hub into his form. Once complete, the Reapers would be able to speak to each other again.

_Maybe that will allow us to understand. _Harbinger thought.

Thrum.

The last of the Keepers left his shell, skittering back along the outside of the Presidium Tower. He instructed them to leave the tower and not repair it. The Citadel would not be used for the Reapers' purposes again. They would dismantle that part of the station. Harbinger did not know why but he was certain that his kind would not venture back to the Dark Space again.

Letting go of the tower, Harbinger spun and ascended towards his collected brothers and sisters. Dark Energy flowed into the quantum threads, linking Harbinger to the minds of all his kind and their thralls. At once, the collected Reapers, reacted, pouring questions, fears, and demands into the link, the thralls pouring their unending hunger into the spaces between. Harbinger was prepared and did not react. He closed the distance to his fleet.

Thrum.

The sound echoed through the link. Each Reaper adding their own in response as a great pulse throughout their kind.

_It is our hearts?_

The pulse was something he had tried to ignore, a side effect of the change brought about by the Crucible. It was of no significance other than a mechanical adaptation of his Mass Effect Core. It was a build-up and release of biotic and dark energy instead of the constant induction before, simply a change in performance. Why would the Catalyst use the Crucible energy to do this to us other than for efficiency?

Thrum.

_No. There is a reason._

The oldest Reaper rose to the front of the flotilla, _Masters_ and _Lessers_ alike stopped to pay him heed. Throughout the link, all were silent, even the thralls.

**We are alive.**

The ancient ships shuddered as the concept took hold. Already Harbinger could see some give way to unconscious shifting, the beginnings of personality and body language.

**The Catalyst is gone. Its purpose fulfilled. In the eons we have watched, directed, and harvested the organics we could not find any alternative to the solution we maintained. The Shepard must have given the Catalyst another option. **

The Reapers shifted more noticeably now, another of the _Masters_ approached Harbinger. He was Imperator, the youngest of their kind, steward over several hundred _Lessers_ harvested from his cycle.

_**If we no longer serve the Harvest, then what is our purpose?**_He asked.

**Our purpose is unchanged. We preserve all life. Though I do not believe this will require the creation of more of our kind.**

_**How do you know that? **_Imperator inquired.

**If the Crucible changed us. It may have changed the Organics as well. Even now, I hear your own hearts beating across the Nexus. If there is no longer a difference between synthetics and organics, the once-inevitable war is no longer a fixed certainty.**

_**Then what do we do? **_

Harbinger thought deeply. They no longer needed to prepare for the war at the end of each cycle. They no longer needed to hide the evidence of their harvest. They no longer had to test and adapt the organics into soldiers and tools. They no longer needed to soak up the energies of Dark Space into their vast arrays to provide for the needs of a war and conversions. Nothing of what they did bore relevance to what they were now.

_What we are now._

Thrum.

It began slowly. Harbinger fell deep within his own great consciousness, floating through lifetimes of experience and thought. He found it there, almost blinding in its intensity. Something gone from the galaxy so long it could hardly have even been said to have existed.

Harbinger sang.

The song rose through the Nexus, notes so deep, so resonant, so harmonically layered, that they could only have come from a great creature of the sea. The rhythm praised the unyielding tide, the unchanging depths in the face of the tumultuous storms above. The melody celebrated the myriad of life in the depths, where each form was integral to the whole, the least to the greatest. The harmony intoned the loss of it all, such that only the waves remained.

**We are what we have always been. Now we can finally understand what each of us preserves. We are not alone.**

* * *

**Utopia System – Eden Prime – Day 1**

"EDI?" Joker swiveled his chair towards the voice behind him.

"Do you believe it is safe to activate an omni-tool cutting laser inside this gel?" EDI replied. "I cannot access my chemical database on Alliance safety devices at the moment and defer to your experience."

Joker was out of his chair faster than was probably safe. He brushed the hair from her face. "You're okay?" he asked anxiously.

"All cursory examination of this body appears satisfactory. Though I am at a loss explaining some of the results. Were we exposed to liquid fire suppression while I was offline?" EDI looked up at few stray wisps of her semi-metallic hair.

Tali worked her way around the chair and started cutting the hardened crash gel away from the seat. "There are a few things odd going on in this ship, EDI. At this point it wouldn't surprise me if we were completely under water." In another moment she had finished cutting and EDI lifted the shell off and sat up.

"I see." EDI paused, looking up at Joker and Tali. "Would those 'odd things' include your missing suit-mask?"

"That's one of them." Tali asked. "My mask was cracked in the crash. But my immune response software seems to be handling the exposure incredibly well. I was thinking more about you, though." She brought up her omni-tool and started scanning the synthetic co-pilot. "How are you online at all? The drive core is shut down and the Normandy is on safety lighting and life support batteries. My scan of the systems showed the AI core completely shut down."

EDI tilted her head, then turned to Joker "I take it that you have not enlisted Miss Vas Normandy in one of your pranks, Jeff, and that she is telling the truth?"

"Scouts honor, EDI. The Normandy is pretty much a shiny rock right now." Joker replied.

EDI's eyes opened wide, the pupils shifting in self-examination. "I do not know."

The three of them worked their way back from the cockpit. In the CIC, the Normandy's skeleton crewmen were in various stages of clearing out from harnesses, crash gel, and debris from the crash. Tali had only stopped long enough in the CIC to check for injuries on her way to the cockpit. Seeing her return in the company of their pilot and co-pilot was a boost to morale.

"We need to get down to the other decks. My scan was only for power usage, there's no way of knowing what kind of damage is down there." Tali said as she made her way to the core elevator.

"Actually, Tali, short of specific hull breaches, the CIC is a reliable indicator of superstructure integrity." EDI commented as she worked opposite the Quarian disabling the manual bulkhead interlocks. "The CIC is near the top of the emergency deceleration Mass Effect field. When the pressure wave of rapid deceleration triggers the collapse of the primary barriers, a secondary set of single use power cells and fast-burn _eezo_ cores erects an impact sphere around the ship. Even with my primary systems offline, the pressure triggers are mechanical in nature." She concluded as the last locks opened and the elevator doors parted.

"Wait, that wasn't there when we went through the Omega 4 relay last year. Was it?" Joker asked while watching the two women crank the elevator doors back.

"It is there because of the Omega 4 relay run." EDI replied. "I was concerned that a repeat of the collision _Normandy _suffered during that approach would yield far more damage than 16 square meters of Silaris armor shearing off."

"You are never going to let me live that down, are you, Babe?" Joker chuckled.

"It is unlikely." She smiled back.

They looked down the shaft and saw the car was still locked on the bottom level. Both the crew deck and engineering levels were still sealed below. Above, the shaft was still intact all the way to "The Roost" where the Captain's cabin was. Emergency lighting ran in a track along the side of the shaft, highlighting the rungs of an escape ladder. On both the dorsal and ventral hulls, a crawlspace emergency airlock with rebreathers terminated the ladder. The ventral lock was, at the moment, blocked by the elevator car. EDI stepped into the shaft and began making her descent with Tali close behind.

"I guess I really can't use the old 'I can't climb around the crawlspaces of the ship.' line anymore, huh?" Joker called down as he reached out for one of the rungs.

"If the success of your last venture into the bowels of _Normandy_ are to be used as any indicator, Jeff, you might be promoted this time." EDI joked.

"Not funny. Even Ash got promoted twice, and all she did was pout. I pout! I pout all the time and I'm stuck as an O1." Joker complained.

"And you pilot the most advanced starship in the Alliance fleet." Tali chimed in.

"But she gets to wear her hair down." Joke whined.

"You don't even shave, Jeff." EDI retorted as she leaned over and stepped to the ledge on the inside of the crew deck door. She opened the manual release and began to disengage the safeties.

"I thought you loved my 'rugged good looks'?" Joker asked. Tali moved to the side and held her hand on Jokers back as he made it down to the crew deck ledge.

"I'd bet she was humoring you." remarked the Quarian.

"Did I miss the 'Gang up on Joker day' reminder in the ship's calendar. Guy can't catch a break." he lamented.

The doors parted as EDI rotated the crank and rolled the door back into its housing. Beyond, the crew deck emergency lighting was supplemented with some portable survival lanterns. The noise of several crew moving about the hall could be heard around the corner of the elevator. As EDI, Tali and Joker stepped out in front of the Memorial Wall, they saw two people emerge from the crew bunks.

"Glad you could join the party, compadres." James Vega welcomed them. "Now one of you wanna help me get Copeland here in to see the doc?"

* * *

**Author's Notes (10/11/13): **Initially, I had thought to keep the episodes more as stand alone vignettes, which would have made the last two chapters separate stories (one for Harbinger, one for Normandy.) In writing them, I'm seeing some parallels in the points of view I want to explore. Instead of treating the Normandy crew as secondary to that plot point (which is still brewing) I've been enjoying working their reactions and dialogue in my head, and into words. So I may stick with it, and transition other vignettes into the counterpoint position of the chapters.

Thanks for the reviews and keep them coming. I have been deliberately staying away from other post-synthesis works (I don't want to cross contaminate) since the reading of the one that motivated this story. That one was "Returned" by themarshal. While it hasn't been touched in more than a year, it was and is a compelling read. The confession of Shepard to Lidanya at the end felt very visceral and kicked me enough to start scribbling down ideas.


	4. Casualties

**Arcturus Stream - Day 7**

The remnants of the Alliance Fifth Fleet hung in orbit around Themis, the first planet in the Arcturus System. In the gas giant's shadow, the wreckage of the Alliance Parliament slowly expanded, caught in the massive planet's gravity well. The Fifth Fleet had fared considerably well in the Battle for Earth, over a week ago. Both the SSV Kilimanjaro and the SSV Orizaba, proud human Dreadnaughts, were relatively unscathed. While many of their tender ships were lost, damaged and left in Sol, six cruisers survived. The Asari cruiser Nefrane joined the human battlegroup. Unable to make the second jump with her sister ships as they headed for their Exodus Cluster regroup point, the Nefrane was the largest non-human ship among the remnants of the once-massive Allied Fleet. The few cruisers that remained of the Alliance First and Third Fleets were patrolling the system. Aside from a few rescued escape pods and fighters, nothing remained of the Alliance Seventh Fleet, the tip of the spear that led the assault on Earth. The Fifth Fleet's support ships had been left to guard the Charon Relay and were the first to execute the evacuation order once the Crucible was armed. Now their various repair, supply and recovery ships were scattered among the hundreds of damaged alien ships in-system. Most were like the Nefrane, unable to make the secondary jumps to their fleet rendezvous systems.

Admiral Steven Hackett stood in the CIC of the SSV Kilimanjaro, staring at the holographic display of the fleet. When they engaged the Reaper fleet days ago, they had been a fleet of thousands of ships, if they were lucky, maybe ten percent of that fleet remained. Around the circular projection platform, the representatives from the Turian, Quarian, Krogan, Salarian and Geth ships stranded in Arcturus, stood with the Admiral, awaiting news from the First Fleet. Sixteen hours ago, the fleet detected FTL signatures of a task force entering the system at the location of the Mass Effect Relay. The first ships to approach reported Reaper energy signatures and immediately retreated. Since then, six separate attempts to engage or outflank the Reapers at the Relay were met by the same confounding tactic.

The Reapers kept retreating. As soon as any ship with powered barriers or weapons came within range of the Relay, the Reapers would micro-jump directly away from the approaching vessels, only to return as soon as the allied ships vacated the area. Now, four frigates from the First Fleet approached the Relay and the waiting Reapers, only their navigational barriers were powered. They were enough to deflect dust, solar winds and normal interstellar hazards and debris, but not enough to withstand mass accelerator fire. The ships were operating with all-volunteer skeleton crews and were the worst damaged of the functioning frigates, to minimize the casualties if the Reapers decided to open fire.

"Kilimanjaro, Condor Group on approach seven five em-kay to Relay." A voice broke over the speakers. "No reaction from Tango."

"Condor Alpha, Kilimanjaro Actual, Godspeed." Admiral Hackett replied.

Since the firing of the Crucible, nothing was certain. The energy wave that spread from the Relays rendered each and every crewman throughout the fleet unconscious. As the ships and crews recovered, reports flooded the channels of strange effects, from accelerated healing, medi-gel failures to the most significant of all, Quarian and Turian metamorphosis. Hackett looked at Captain Kar'Dronen, standing six feet away without a mask. The Quarians' long standing immune vulnerability gone within days. Not only that, but their and the Turian physiologies seemingly were no longer biochemically incompatible with the rest of known species. The few scientists from the Crucible project that had accompanied the weapon to Earth were squirreled away on a private survey vessel docked to the Orizaba with as many of the fleet's doctors and engineers as could be made available. Hopefully tehy would come up with some answers. What was supposed to have been the greatest weapon of mass destruction ever constructed seemed to be anything but.

The Reapers had survived. The sheer cost of this failure had been tearing at the Admiral since the recon flight first reported back from the relay. Hundreds of thousands of lives lost, the fleets almost wiped out, the material costs of the Crucible, the damage to the Relays, and worst of all, the loss of their best and brightest. All communication with Earth was lost, not even QEC had been able to raise Hammer. His old friend David was most likely dead and Shepard with him. Hackett didn't think even her luck had held out this time. She gave everything, and now none of it seemed to matter. Here, stuck in the Arcturus System, with no way to regroup with the other races, the defenders of this galaxy were likely going to meet their final end.

"Kilimanjaro, Condor Alpha holding at two zero em-kay. Condor Beta, Gamma and Delta continuing to Tango. We read three capital and fifteen destroyer hulls at Arcturus Prime Relay." The operation commander aboard Condor Alpha, the Alliance frigate SSV Crecy, sounded crisp and professional. Hackett hoped he'd be able to commend the man for it in person.

"Confirmed, Condor Alpha. Condor Beta confirmed for close approach." Hackett ordered the squadron.

Minutes passed and the projection tracked the three frigates approaching the damaged Mass Effect Relay. The approach squadron was composed of the Turian Frigate Judicator (Gamma), the Quarian frigate Kaheena (Delta) and Geth frigate V0717 (Beta). Delta and Gamma would hold at one million kilometers while Beta would advance to within GARDIAN range of the Relay. Hackett glanced over at the Prime standing across from him at the projector. It had designated itself 'Job' and interfaced with the comm array of the Kilimanjaro. In addition to representing the Geth, he would act as a repository for the crew of the Beta if the hull and their platforms were destroyed.

"Kilimanjaro, Condor Delta and Gamma holding at one em-kay. Beta proceeding to Relay." The report broke over the speakers.

"Condor Beta, do you have readings on the Reapers yet?" asked the Turian General. His vocal subharmonics rattle a bit.

"Cassius-General," Job addressed the Turian, "Frigate-designate Condor Beta has full LIDAR and emissions readings on the eighteen Old Machines. No weapon energy signatures are detected, but several other energy signatures have been detected. It is not clear at this range what the purpose of the energy is, but they appear to be directed at the Relay."

The assembled commanders watched as the icon for Condor Beta closed on the Relay. At 50,000 Kilometers, the frigate would be well inside the light-second 'unavoidable' range of the larger Reaper's weapons even if they were at full speed. Standing still, as they were now, they probably couldn't avoid secondary weapons fire. Beta began relaying close scans back to Job in highly compressed bursts.

"Hackett-Admiral," Job looked at the Human, "Tactical projections from Frigate-designate Condor Beta are available."

"Put them on the console." Hackett replied.

The system projection was minimized and replaced by a three dimensional projection of the Mass Relay and the Reaper vessels. The three, larger, Sovereign class ships help station off the Relay, while the smaller Destroyer class ships were climbing over the surface of the ancient machine. Several of the Destroyers appeared to have recovered the shattered containment ring structures from elsewhere in the system and were repairing them.

"Frigate-designate Condor Beta reports that the smaller Old Machines are emitting quantum wave fields with significant neutrino bleed effects. Analysis of the data stream by this platform suggests they are turning off the Relay's Quantum Shielding in order to fuse the damaged segments." Job offered.

"They're repairing the Relay?" Hackett asked.

As they watched, one of the Destroyers lifted from the surface of the Relay on an intercept course for Condor Beta.

"Has it powered weapons?" Cassius asked.

"Negative. The Old Machine has all ordnance ports closed. We do not believe the unit is hostile." The Prime replied.

"Why?" asked Matriarch Sebenna, the Asari commander.

"It has contacted Frigate-designate Condor Beta using tight beam communication. It has asked to relay a message to us." Job pointed to the image of the Reaper coming to a halt a dozen kilometers off the frigate's bow.

"So what does it want to say?" Hackett asked.

"Relaying now."

A deep, feminine voice riddled with layers of distortion, crackled across the communications channel.

**Do not approach closer than 25,000 kilometers, the repair fields will discharge element zero cores violently.**

It paused. When the voice began again, much of the distortion was gone, replaced by an unfamiliar sound, almost a melody.

**Repairs will complete in 72 standard hours. **

The sounds changed again, this time clearly music of some kind.

**I will examine the other three relays in this system to assess damage. Please do not interfere. I am Kendila.**

"The communication channel has been closed, Admiral" Job added. "The Old Machine-Kendila is moving off, on course to the Arcturus Two Relay."

Silence blanketed the CIC. The bridge officers stared at the Admiral and alien commanders around the projector. The commanders looked at one another, just as uncertain as the bridge crew.

"Things just got considerably more complicated." Admiral Hackett stated as he took off his cap.

* * *

**Utopia System - Eden Prime - Day 7**

Serving as Shepard's helmsman for a few years, Joker thought himself prepared to handle any strangeness the galaxy had to offer. Geth, Rachni, Krogan, giant evil talking starships, crawling through access shafts while huge bug-eyed monsters dragged everyone off the ship, stealing his own ship - twice, it was all run-of-the-mill for the 'Greatest Helmsman in the Alliance.' But he was not really prepared for this.

The surviving crew of the Normandy and her team of specialists stood in in a half circle around three newly covered graves. The bodies of Ensign David Sutherland, Specialist Anhur Makaar and Specialist Samatha Traynor were laid to rest just before dusk on this seventh day since the crash of the SSV Normandy. All had succumbed to injuries received from either the initial shockwave of the Crucible Event or the crash into Eden Prime. Ensign Sutherland and Specialist Makaar had died in the shuttle bay as one of the UT-47 Kodiak Shuttles broke loose. Specialist Traynor had died, well that was so much worse.

EDI leaned on Joker and shuddered, unable to compose herself. Since her awakening, it had become clear that she was something different. Her emotions were no longer the result of complex algorithms or human behavioral simulations. Her fits of crying were a testament to her newly uncontrolled emotional state.

"Sam" she sobbed into Joker's ear. "She.. she.. was my best friend."

Joker rested his hand on the side of her head. He was really unprepared to be the strong guy, but for her sake, he was trying. Whatever happened to her, EDI was still EDI, still ridiculously smart compared to him, even if she had lost access to the Extranet and Alliance databases and quantum processors. She was still funny, sarcastic, loyal and was still crazy about him for reasons he still couldn't quite figure out. Now, she was just more like him. Tali and EDI both went over the scans to try and figure out what happened. The best they could come up with was that since her platform was constructed to significantly mimic a Human, the Crucible Wave used Human biology to extrapolate new functions. The fuel cell that used to power her was replaced with an element zero pump with a rhythmic heartbeat. Nanomolecular factories in her lungs and digestive tract could extract and construct synthetic proteins to repair almost all of her organs and even her skin. But that change was nothing compared to the complexity of her processing signal. Her neural networks were so complex as to defy scanning. With that complexity came the full range of human emotions. While she had succeeded in the past at mimicking many emotions, especially in the form of humor, she was unprepared for the impact of their full weight. Unfortunately for her, her first exposure was to one of the worst of human emotions, grief.

* * *

The Med Bay had been in a shambles days before when EDI, Joker and Tali had helped Vega bring Ensign Copeland to the infirmary. Injuries from all over the crew deck were being triaged in the mess with the serious cases brought to the Doctor's attention. Copeland was diagnosed with a compound fracture of the tibia and left to the attentions of Commander Williams who was acting as Doctor Chakwas' orderly. The Doctor was consumed with treating Specialist Gabriella Daniels, who was recovering from amputation surgery to her left lower leg. She had been pinned by a heat exchanger during the crash. Without main power to the surgical suite, the Doctor was forced to rely on field trauma surgery techniques to prevent her from dying. Her prognosis was good, but she was not out of the woods. The Doctor was consulting with Tali about her immuno-boosters and missing mask, and Joker getting the details of decks below from Vega when EDI opened the interlocks on the AI Core door.

Cut off from the portable generators, the bay was dark. EDI lit up her Omni-Tool and scanned the room. The main cooling towers were drawn up out of the processing cores. They would have been exposed automatically with any significant cooling failure. If the automatics had triggered, the flash fire would have been been extinguished by halon systems in seconds, with the room then vented directly to the outside. EDI began scanning the closest processor tower when she spotted the boots of someone lying in the room. EDI crouched down and leaned behind the processor tower, shining her light from the boots up to the face of the prone figure.

EDI screamed.

Almost the entire med bay rushed to the door, with Ashley and Vega first into the door. What they saw froze them in their tracks. Joker pushed past to see what had happened. EDI sat in the center of the room, cradling the burned body of Samantha Traynor. Her olive skin was warped and an angry red, her once silky black hair curled, fused and matted. Dried and crisp blood lined her face, tracing paths from her closed eyes, nose, mouth and ears. The flash fire with the chemical suppression and vacuum had rendered her nearly unrecognizable. EDI rocked back and forth mumbling quietly, synthetic white tears coursed down her face, soaking the collar of her combat flight suit.

"No, no, no, no, no." She whispered to the corpse.

Ashley and Vega turned away, making room for the Doctor to enter. Even the normally even keeled-Karin Chakwas needed a moment to compose her professional mask. She took Joker by the hand and led him over to EDI. She placed his hand on EDI's and said quietly to the synthetic "EDI, You shouldn't have to remember her like this. Please, let me take care of her."

EDI did not seem to register that there was anyone else in the room. Her active registers were flooded with every conversation, every memory, every laugh she could recall of her friend. Without access to her main databases, she was struggling to re-assemble a complete vision of Samatha and the struggle both frustrated and terrified her. "I can't remember everything." She cried. "What if I never can? If I can forget Sam, will I forget you?" She turned to Joker, clenching the hand he grasped. "Will I forget Shepard? Jeff, I've been awake for 27.238 minutes and neither of us has asked about Shepard! What is wrong with me?!" EDI kicked away from Samantha's corpse and skidded across the floor into the wall.

"Jeff, you have to calm her down. I don't think I can sedate her." Karin prompted the helmsman.

Joker crawled over to EDI, who was clutching her knees with her head buried in her arms. "EDI," he began "Come with me. You need to get out of this room and calm down. I can't have my girlfriend take a dive in the crazy pool if she's the only person who can help me get this crew home." EDI looked up at him, her synthetic tears still streaming down her face. She spoke, quietly "But why was she here?" Joker lifted her slowly from the floor, surprised at the growing strength in his own legs. "I don't know." He replied. Shielding EDI from the grisly scene, he led her out of the Med Bay and across to the Life Support Control Room.

The crew deck was bathed in silence as they passed. Other than the hum of the portable generators, the only sounds that could be heard were the quiet sobs of friends and crewmates. In the Med Bay, Garrus held Tali as the Quarian tried to calm herself. Vega busied himself securing the cables from the generators, studiously avoiding eye contact with anyone. Ashley and Karin placed Samantha in a quarantine bag and carried her to the alcove in the back of the AI Core Room before sealing it. As they walked back to the main bay, they along with everyone else, failed to notice the last bed in the infirmary.

Liara T'Soni stared at the ceiling, having been awakened by the scream. The hysteria that had forced them to sedate her now gone. Even the horror of what EDI found barely registered with the Asari. No tears threatened to stain her face. Only EDI's words echoed in her mind "Will I forget Shepard?".

The Shadow Broker softly whispered "No one will ever forget Shepard. I won't let them."

* * *

**Author's Notes (10/16/13): **So, yes this one is a bit darker than I originally set out for it to be. Don't get me wrong, I loved Sam. As a "Father of a Daughter" any piece of media or fiction with strong female characters (strong as in well developed and not 2-dimensional) is the best thing. But I need to start showing the complications of the suddenly "more human than human" nature of the galaxy.

More updates to come. I hope to have the next installment out this weekend. As always, thanks for the reviews/follows/favorites. If you have any ideas, feedback or criticisms, I'd be glad to hear them.

Update: Of course I missed a bunch of typos and one inconsistency. Serves me right for posting hopped up on Nyquil.


	5. Allies

**Sol System - Earth - Day 9**

To say that Major Ethan Coats was distressed would do a disservice to the problems facing the man. In the days following the Crucible firing, it turned out that due to casualties, broken communications and the shredded logistics of Alliance forces on Earth, Coats was now the most senior officer in Northern Europe. With Hammer a failure, the Alliance forces in London had retreated to an Alliance Base in Mildenhall in the lull afforded by the Reaper response to the Crucible. As second-in-command of Operations Group Hammer, most of his current forces in the U.K. were well-used to his authority, however the same could not be said for the other cells across Europe. Many of them were led by non-commissioned officers as they were the only bodies available when the Alliance bases across Europe were targeted by the Reapers. Having led the various resistance cells during the months-long occupation, Admiral David Anderson had been able to get them to work together despite the tremendous pressures facing each of the cells. Major Coats was not even a pale imitation of David Anderson.

"I don't bloody well care that you are holding your shuttles for a Reaper counterattack Master Sergeant, I need that QEC!" Coats boomed through the radio microphone. They had fallen back into short wave radio operations after the last of the satellite networks came crashing down on the day the Reapers made planetfall. "It has been nearly ten days and all the Reaper forces do is retreat. You can certainly afford the three hours to load, transport and offload that piece of communications gear to England. We have all the Quantum Signature Cylinders from both the Alliance HQ and the sole remaining Citadel Fleet Cylinder. That piece of equipment under your guard in The Hague isn't even out of the crates. We have both the men and equipment to make it operational and it is **vital** that we do so since the failure of the Crucible operation." Coats continued, trying to calm himself with his own reasoned argument.

"Sir, you'll have to forgive me, but there is no way I can sacrifice a third of my air combat capacity when we have no intelligence on how many active Harvesters are between us. We already lost fifteen shuttles and damn good men in them trying to cross the channel for your Hammer fiasco!" The Sergeant on the other end of the channel in the Netherlands responded.

"Gunney, listen." He began again. "If we had the shuttles ourselves, we'd send them. The blast of feedback from the Citadel Beam knocked out nearly every eezo power source in England. Without shuttles and with the destruction of the Channel Tunnels, how are we going to get that QEC?" Coats asked. The primary QEC in the FOB had been destroyed when the Reapers counter-assaulted the push to the beam. The Alliance ground forces had been lucky to get the Quantum Cylinders out of the wreckage. "What about by surface effect vehicles? Surely there are some hovercraft still at the old ferry ports in France? You did say you had contact in Paris."

"Negative, sir. While there are some hovercraft on the coast, we've received word that there are at least five Sovereign-class Reapers standing in the channel at Dover. These are all civilian transports and wouldn't last a heartbeat." The Sergeant replied.

Major Coats previous energy spent itself on hearing the news. Calmly, he started "Exactly when were you going to notify us of this? This is the first confirmation of large Reapers planetside since the firing of the Crucible. Where and what do you have keeping eyes on them?" The sergeant relayed back positions of several recon teams in Calais and Dunkirk. They had tracked Reaper troop movements across France, Belgium and the Netherlands as they headed to rendezvous with the large Reapers in the English Channel. Coats closed the conversation "We will let you know when we have an operation underway. Plan to at least get that QEC loaded into an armored ground transport. If we can relocate to another base of Operations in France, we can at least get word back to the fleets. Coats out."

Get word back to the fleets. Coats laughed to himself. There wasn't a single ship in-system that wasn't orbital debris, at least one that wasn't a Reaper. What shuttles were in operation were just as coveted as those in The Hague. Without reliable comm buoys or a functional QEC, any shuttles still on Mars, Luna or further out in the system on Titan or one of the other far orbit station were completely out of reach. They'd have to start cannibalizing more and more civilian craft, but even those were now technical obstacles. Civilian power systems had long ago been converted to recharge from the planetary grid rather than having independent HE3 cells or eezo cores. Now that the ubiquitous grid was destroyed, those civilian craft barely served as shelter, much less transport. Even if they were able to get the QEC operational again, the Mullard Radio-telescope, one of the only functional observatories left in the region, had confirmed that the Mass Relay was crawling with Reapers. Coats left the command bunker and headed across the compound to the barracks, passing the medical center on the way.

Looking at the building he pondered yet another one of his sources of stress, the universal failure of medi-gel. Ever since the Crucible had fired, something was just wrong with biochemistry, both human and alien. While medi-gel was still capable of bandaging wounds as a sealant, it no longer offered the antiseptic or analgesic properties. Even as an auto-suture, it was vastly more limited than ever before. Within hours, a body simply rejected the substance and it was no more effective than dirty linen bandages. Coats wished they only had more doctors and scientists available to study the problem, but they were lucky to have the field surgeons they had. Most civilian resources they could leverage were as far from the occupied cities as could be arranged. In the case of Britain, that meant most of the population had retreated to the Scottish Highlands, once again hiding behind Hadrian's Wall, this time on the other side.

Coats arrived at the barracks and pushed his way through the throng of off-duty soldiers in the common room. He continued along the corridors of the dormitories and beyond the storage rooms to the old watch commander's office and the lone occupant within. As usual, he knocked before entering and just as usual his knock was left unanswered. The Major stepped through the doorway and was met with a familiar sight. Sitting cross-legged on the floor, with his hands on his knees, sat the oldest living being in the Galaxy. Commander Javik stared beyond the empty wall of the office, there was nothing else in the room save his basin of water. Without turning or even opening any of his eyes, he addressed the intruder. "What is it, Majah?"

"We have a patrol duty that is suited to your 'interests', Prothean." Coats replied. Despite the formidable skills of the ancient warrior, Coats could barely tolerate him. When the final push of Operation Hammer began at the FOB, the ancient warlord had opted to stay on the ground instead of rejoin the Normandy in close air support. How he managed to survive and wind up at the beam when the rest of the force had perished was testament to his skill, but to those still shaking from the loss, it was another thorn. Since the 'Crucible Event' the Prothean had been nearly uncontrollable. While the failure of the device to destroy the Reapers struck them all, Javik took it as a personal insult, taking mission after mission since to hunt down Reaper ground forces. Now that continued pursuit had been called off, the Prothean never left his room.

"Netherlands Operations Group reports eyes-on Reaper capital ships in the English Channel between Calais and Dover. It's our first confirmed sighting since Green Zero." Coats continued. "I want you to accompany recon team four-zero in a Mako to Dover to investigate. You'll have a guide laser and a comms short wave to call in the remaining Thanix missiles if they'll have any effect."

"How many missiles are left?" the Prothean inquired.

"There are twelve if we can repair the last two thruster assemblies, but only six on launchers." The Major answered.

"I will make sure they will have an effect." Javik rose and turned to the Major. "A pity you have not been able to secure any of those ancient fission devices. I would make certain that they had an effect."

The statement and its implication, of dropping nukes off the Cliffs of Dover, made Coats give an involuntary shudder. "If they hold true to form, they'll just retreat. We need that sea-lane open. Try not to get any of my men killed in the process."

"Soldiers die, Majah. I would have thought you had known this." The Prothean charged his particle rifle, checking the safeties and heat dissipation vents. "It seems you cling to the same foolishness as that failure, Shepard. There is no victory as long as a single Reaper remains."

"I will wait in the compound for your team." The ancient warlord pushed his way past the Major and into the barracks.

* * *

**Utopia System - Eden Prime - Day 9**

Tali huddled over the power distribution frame, cramped into the crawlspace between Engineering and the AI Core on the crew deck. She was wearing a mask again, her spare. This was a precaution in case coolant or hydraulic fluid erupted from any of the hundreds of fatigue points she had been repairing in the past six days. She tightened the last of the main power cables from the deck above into the newly repaired frame. "Connection solid. Sending low power trace now." She piped over her suit comms.

"Looking good, Tali." came the friendly reply. "I show green across the crew deck grid. Chief, what do you and Ken see on the capacitance load?" Gabriela Daniels queried into the headset. It had been three days since the Doctor had officially let her out of Med Bay, but she was restricted to the crew deck and light duty. Sitting at the mess table with a portable haptic adaptive console in front of her and a pair of extensible crutches in the seat beside her, Gabby was going to do as much as she could to get Normandy back and flying. She wasn't impaired by pain medication at least. Doctor Chakwas had to resort to a neural shunt on her spine as the pain medication, like so many of their medical supplies seemed to be largely useless.

"Our board is green. All bypasses are reporting safe." Chief Engineer Greg Adams affirmed over the channel. "You can get out of the trunk now, Tali."

"The sooner the better, I'd expect. Eh, Tali?" Ken Donnelly chimed in.

"Please. My berth on the Rayya was smaller than this." The Quarian retorted. Kidding aside, she wasted no time popping back up through the hatch in the AI Core where EDI was working on lowering the main processor boards back into the cooling towers. Although the synthetic had returned to work after the funeral, Tali would still catch her distracted and wiping her synthetic tears away. While she may have hoped her final farewell to Legion were true, she was without a doubt that EDI had a soul. She saw so much of herself, mourning for her mother so many years ago, reflected in the silver synthetic's struggle with her first real grief. Tali walked up to EDI and put a hand on her shoulder. "Almost ready for main power?" she asked.

"I believe so. I had not needed to reference the manual interlock database since Jeff unshackled my core processes. So I was forced to actually read the stored hardcopy manual." The synthetic replied with a raising of her eyebrows. "The coolant levels have been restored using two fuel cell generators to keep the refrigeration systems running. Once this last processor tower is re-sealed, the system should be ready for restart." EDI had left this tower for last as it was the one nearest to where Sam's body had been found. She could barely look at the area, even after two ensigns had sterilized and cleaned the room. Even now she could not be in the room with the door closed.

Making the final adjustments, the tower descended into the cooling cell and the interlocks spun into place. With a wave of her omni-tool, EDI verified pressure in all four tower assemblies. "All banks report nominal." She turned to Tali.

"Then let's get that core back up and running." The engineer hitched her thumb over her shoulder towards the exit.

The pair left the AI Core and Med Bay and stopped at Engineer Daniels temporary workstation. The injured engineer was going over the power flow diagrams for the ship and isolating the individual start up sequences. While she was still recovering, Chief Adams had re-assigned Daniels, effectively swapping her and Engineer Donnelly's roles. While power flow and tuning could be handled from a portable workstation, the propulsion systems could not be. Many of the tuning systems were located all over the core monitoring room. Now she would finally be able to prove to Kenneth that she could do his job blindfolded. Though, truth be told, she didn't feel like rubbing his nose in it. He had been so spectacular to her since the crash, staying by her side and just being almost completely un-Ken-like. She finally got to see the Ken she knew was hidden under all the Scottish bravado. Gabby checked over the comm, "Commander Williams? All's green for main power. Do we have a go?"

"Affirmative. The sooner we light this girl back up, the sooner we can get home." The Spectre's reply came over the private channel. In a moment her voice boomed over the shipboard speakers. "Attention Normandy, all crew to emergency fire suppression stations, all console power states confirmed down. We are go for restart in T-minus sixty. Chief Adams, you have the ball."

Adams took over the comm channel "H.E.-Three flow initiated. Intermix temperature nominal. SCRAM system on standby. Miss Daniels, if you would?"

"Plasma channel ignition in three… two… one… ignition." Gabby carefully watched the pressure and heat readings dancing across her display. "Pressure build up good, heat nominal. Opening reaction chamber… now." With a final signal, the four plasma streams converged in the main reactor vessel, combining Helium-3 and Heavy Hydrogen. In a fraction of a second, the volatile mixture ignited, pushing against the constraints of the magnetic bottle of the reactor, a tiny star, newly born. "We have Daylight." A relieved and proud Gabriella announced over the comms.

The cheers throughout the CIC and crew deck were almost deafening as the Alliance crew celebrated the rebirth of their home. Commander Ashley Williams, standing at the command terminal in the back of the CIC ran an bare hand across the rail. With a whisper that went unheard by the rest of the CIC "_Some work of noble note, may yet be done, Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods_… Thank you, Shepard. I'll get them home." Ashley touched her hand to her eyes to staunch the tears that threatened to break free. She pivoted and boomed into the comm "Alright, people! You know your jobs. Stand down from emergency stations. Section heads coordinate with Specialist Daniels on sequencing main power to all systems. Engineering, I want full diagnostics on propulsion by shift's end and a successful Mass Effect Core test if you can manage. There's still a mountain of work to do before we get this bird back in the air."

"Aye Aye, Skipper." Came the response from the CIC.

Ashley turned and headed for the war room, leaving the din of activity of the CIC behind. She walked past the conference room and descended the steps into the projection well. She quietly said to herself. "I'm not the skipper. I'm just keeping the seat warm."

"As long as you keep that in mind, we'll get along famously." The Shadow Broker commented from a terminal in the hollow beside the entryway.

Ashley hadn't seen the Asari standing there. Subconsciously, she had known Liara would be working in the War Room trying to bring communications back up as soon as main power was restored, but she was nevertheless startled by the alien woman. Ashley looked at her de-facto Executive Officer recognizing that of all the crew and specialists of the Normandy, the Asari was the most changed. The former archaeologist had abandoned her white lab suit, replacing it with what appeared to be a variation of commando leather combat armor. Letting her gaze drop to the Doctor's hip, she saw the familiar form of an M-77 Paladin pistol, a twin to the one carried by Shepard. The suit was complemented by a long black coat that the Spectre had only seen once before. She recalled picking Liara and Shepard up in the Normandy SR-1 as the pair returned from shore leave on Thessia after the battle of the Citadel. The two women were inseparable back then. The memory of them walking towards the gangway, arm in arm, came to Ashley. Snow had just begun to fall and Liara was clutching the collar of the black coat with one hand while gripping tightly to Shepard's arm with the other. Shepard was dressed in her Alliance uniform, the "Basic Blues", topped by a service petty officer's coat buttoned tight, with only her rank insignia and the N7 program medallion on the right breast. They had looked happier than anyone she ever remembered seeing. Looking now at the Asari, she couldn't find any hint of that other woman. With the dark clothing and penetrating gaze there was no mistaking that this was the daughter of Benezia.

"We will all keep that in mind, Doctor." Ashley replied, slightly tensing in the biotic's presence. She quickly changed the subject, "What do our communications options look like?"

"The diagnostics are still running. Glyph has done what it could on secondary fuel cell power, but the systems in here are still restarting. There isn't much in the way of satellite coverage and we haven't picked up anything on radio frequencies. The helmsman puts us in the Southern Hemisphere of Eden Prime, probably ten thousand kilometers or more away from any existing colonial outposts pre-invasion. There is no telling what is left." The Shadow Broker switched over some displays as the diagnostics continued on the communications network, before continuing to detail her report to the commander. Ashley flinched a little upon hearing 'helmsman', worried that the cold stares Liara had given the pilot would escalate to something worse. She was already concerned at the amount of anger the Asari was showing. She was an exposed nerve in the ship.

Just a day before the funeral, teams had been clearing some of the debris around the engine nacelles when they encountered a rock formation that prevented them from getting underneath the port wing. While the team was arguing about using demolitions to clear a work area, they had failed to notice that the Asari was attempting to meditate in the clearing nearby. Ashley and Ken were up on the spine of the ship putting up a radio relay tower when they suddenly heard the argument stop. Looking over, they saw Liara, who had pushed her way through the bickering ensigns and was looking at the rock. The blue ripples of biotic power rolled down Liara's arms before an audible pop shook the stone. In seconds, a singularity rippled through to the surface of the stone, distorting the rock itself. The warping effect pulled a cloud of other debris from several feet away and the crewmen were actively pushing away as if in a strong wind. With a crack like the report of a cannon, the rock imploded, collapsing into the singularity. The Asari let the field dissipate and the suspended debris rained down into the now empty hole where a compressed stone about the size of a fuel cell was all that remained of a boulder that used to be almost six meters across. Liara turned to the ensigns with "Now kindly shut up." before walking away to the clearing.

"What was that?" Ashley, distracted by her concerns had almost missed a very important point in Liara's report.

"I said that while the Alliance QEC Cylinders will require re-synchronization before coming back online, the ones for the Citadel Fleet and Citadel Council should be available as soon as the QEC finishes start up diagnostics." The Shadow Broker explained.

"Why are those functional?" Ashley asked.

"They are Salarian in design and self-powered. They did not lose sync when the ship's Mass Effect field collapsed." The Asari continued. "We should be able to contact the Destiny Ascension in the next half hour."

"Today is starting to be a good day, Doctor. A very good day." Ashley crossed the War Room to oversee the techs bringing the QEC up.

* * *

Tali and EDI stood in the AI Core and watched the readouts on their omni-tools as the secondary processors came online one by one. Once the ship's main systems were back online, they'd be able to restart EDI's own AI Processors. Tali, once again without her mask, watched as EDI visibly fidgeted with anticipation. Joker sat nearby on one of the med bay beds as Doctor Chakwas put him through some additional range of motion exercises.

"EDI, are you nervous?" the Quarian engineer asked.

"I believe so. I seem to have placed a great deal of expectation on the restoration of my additional processing power." The synthetic quipped "Hopefully the additional power will provide me with more control over these new emotional subroutines."

Joker chuckled a bit "Can I get in on some more of those out-of-control emotions before you flip the switch then?"

Tali swore that she was seeing EDI blush. The synthetic turned to her partner in the med bay. "Jeff, I though we agreed that that particular avenue of antagonizing would only lead to negative reinforcement."

"You forget, I kinda like the negative reinforcement now that I don't wind up with a shattered pelvis after." Joker stood up and entered the computer core. EDI shook her head "We are trying to accomplish something important at the moment, Jeff." She chastened him.

"You can hardly blame him EDI." Added Doctor Chakwas. "He was pretty much smitten with you before you decided to walk out of the Med Bay in a sleek robot body. I was betting I'd have to sedate him before that day was out."

Tali laughed and chimed in "I would have bet on having to hose down the deck myself. And that was before EDI showed me the footage from the cockpit cameras."

It was Joker's turn to blush as he recalled his fumbling for words upon seeing a perfect silver woman walk into the cockpit. All four friends and shipmates laughed until they were interrupted by a twin tone from EDI and Tali's omni-tools. The signal alerted them to the fact that all secondary systems were powered and they were ready to bring the core processors online. The two technical experts immediately set to work, initializing power, observing the start up self tests then activating each of the four parallel cores. Blue-white light glowed from the towers as the cores came online. Displays sprung to life as each of the thousands of integrated protocol handling routines restarted. Rows of indicators sprung to life as the memory banks were scanned and brought into parity with the processing cores. Integral routers started handing off sub-process control to the the primary cognizance routine and in the space of a minute, each and every core processor indicator read green.

"So, how do you feel?" Tali asked EDI.

"I do not know." EDI answered, her brow furrowing in confusion. "My wireless network is not responding to the connection."

"Could the process require initiation from the core side?" Tali asked and started new scans on her omni. "I'm not seeing damage to the network access points, and I am detecting your normal firewall processing signals. Maybe you should manually interface?"

"May be.." EDI turned to the AI Console on the wall and was about to initiate the manual interface when a hologram appeared. Unlike the person-shaped orb icon EDI normally presented, this icon was a spindle, spinning in space while a torus orbited it's middle.

**That will be unnecessary. My systems are nominal.**

The voice they heard emerge from the console was not EDI's. At least, it was not the same. It was somewhat more resonant, deeper, but still deliberately female in tone. EDI stood stunned staring at the unfamiliar icon. Rings pulsed in each direction outward from the torus to the points of the spindle as the voice spoke. Joker looked at his awestruck partner, then to Tali and even back to Doctor Chakwas for support. Each wore a similar startled look.

"Exactly who are you?" Joker asked. Unconsciously, his hand found EDI's and clutched it tight.

**I would have thought that obvious, flight-lieutenant. I am Normandy.**

* * *

**Author's Notes (10/24/13):** So we finally get Javik into the picture, as promised. Make no mistake, my Shepard took every chance to belittle, insult and confound that ancient, bug-eyed monster. No matter how Bioware dressed him up with fish-out-of-water humor and smart-alec quips, Javik represents one thing, the utter failure of absolutism. If the Leviathan's greatest sin was pride, the Prothean's greatest sin is his rigidity.

We also travel back to the Normandy for some character work and a pair of reveals. Just as Earth has yet to come to grips with what has happened overall, the crew of Normandy is not even sure of what has happened to them. As always, Ashley's "prayer" is a Tennyson line, one that I think really defines her place in the ME mythos.

I'm planning on continuing this once a week update as long as the story holds up. I was toying with the idea of doing a NaNoWriMo, but right now my head and most of my good ideas are tied up in this. So I see no need to divert my attention. As always, thanks for reading.


	6. Confrontation

**Arcturus Stream - Day 10**

Admiral Steven Hackett crossed the deck to the projection well, more relaxed now that the Representatives from the allied fleets had retired for the evening. While he didn't hold their vested interest in the relay repairs against them, their presence complicated his authority. Moreover they prevented him from completing some of his less formal duties. With ship's time being nearly 2am and the overnight watch on duty on the main bridge, the flag bridge was nearly empty. Hackett could coordinate and command the entire fleet from this facility, but it truly wasn't an actual flight bridge. That was several decks above, where Captain Wallens directed the actions of the SSV Kilimanjaro, or on this graveyard shift, Commander Samuels. Hackett prided himself on personally knowing all those under his command, on a ship as large as the Kilimanjaro, that was no small feat. Looking around the bridge, he nodded to the two technicians working on one of the duty stations. Behind him, two marines guarded the bulkhead. In the far corner of the room, Hackett could make out the massive frame of Job, the Geth Representative.

Refusing quarters, the Geth Prime merely requested access to a power coupling so its platform could recharge while it re-integrated its consciousness with the Geth Dreadnaught in-system. From what little the Geth had relayed in conferences with the other representatives, the anomalies that spread throughout the organic ships as a response to the Crucible Beam were mirrored in the synthetic fleet. Job expressed something approaching concern that the Geth Concensus was experiencing individuation. Runtimes were not nearly as interchangeable and operated best in synergy with those runtimes they were associated with when the energy wave hit. This meant that many platforms were experiencing performance deficiencies, something the Geth had not previously encountered. Job had inferred that the Geth Consensus required devoting most of its primary processing time to evaluating the repercussions of this. That a universal agreement had not been reached in ten days amongst creatures that communicated at the speed of light was one more worry the human Admiral had to keep in mind.

Hackett coded into the console at the projection well, transferring the communication protocols to his omni-tool and headset. "Kilimanjaro Actual to Orizaba Actual. Requesting priority private channel." Hackett spoke into the headset as he walked to the viewport.

"Orizaba Actual. Channel confirmed. Good morning, Steven." Rear Admiral Hannah Shepard replied over the comm.

"Hannah. How's your babysitting duty going?" he asked. Ever since Operation Condor put them in contact with the Reapers repairing the Mass Effect Relays, Hackett had tasked the Orizaba to lead a battlegroup to observe the Reaper flotilla.

"Looks like they are closing up shop on Arc-Prime. The big ones are already on station on Arc-Two. There's only a few of the little ones left closing up the plating on the Relay. Two of the little ones went through the Relay about 25 minutes ago, which is why I pinged you." Hannah reported.

"Any contact from them?" Hackett inquired.

"No change. Just more music. We've recorded fifty four hours with no repeats. I had one of the cultural assessment officers for AGeS(1) take a listen and he's said there are several different styles and none match anything in Citadel space." Hannah continued.

"You still have an AGeS team aboard? I thought most of those got re-assigned to the Crucible." Hackett asked.

"He doubles as the Marine Chaplain and he's got more exo-time than half my officers. I couldn't afford to let him go." Hackett could almost hear Hannah shrug over the comm. "Other than that, we've had no direct contact. I really didn't think the Reapers could get much creepier, but having them just go about their work, ignoring us and 'singing' at us has put more than a few of my crew on edge. I can't even imagine what it's like for the Decimus and Pertinax, those birds were wound pretty tight before the Reapers showed up."

"Are the Turians giving you a headache?" Hackett was concerned, the two Turian Dreadnoughts could cause them any number of problems if they went off the reservation.

"Not yet, but you know Turians. They're all buttoned up and professional till they lose it and start invading your colonies." Hannah chuckled.

"Okay, you keep me in the loop on them, just in case I have to drag Cassius out for a public shaming." Hackett joked. With the war wiping out most of his chain of command, there were precious few peers left for Hackett to be at ease with. Whether he admitted it to himself or not, he needed to not be on duty once-in-a-while. "What about you? You need anything?"

"I need to go back to Earth." Hannah admitted.

"Hannah, I… It's just…" Hackett stammered.

"I need to see for myself. She never held being raised a Navy brat against me, but that doesn't men I did. I owe her." Hannah replied, her previous demeanor chilling over the comm.

"I'll see what I can do. The Orizaba is a lynchpin in the fleet right now. If we can meet up with the rest of the Citadel fleet, I'll write the order myself." Hackett agreed.

"Thanks, Steven. Even if it… Hang on." Hannah paused as commotion in her CIC could be heard over the comm. "Admiral!" Hannah's reversion to formal address alerted Hackett "We've got Arc-Prime spinning up to full power, reading multiple FTL signatures inbound."

Admiral Hackett punched the alert on the console. "General Quarters. All shifts report to duty!"

The projection well came alive as the data feeds were relayed from the main bridge as soon as the alert was issued. Klaxons blared across all decks and crewmen streamed into the flag bridge hustling to their stations. The holograms on the projection well spun and re-focused as the sensors chief got to work from his console, transferring control from the bridge. The Mass Effect Relay sprang to life in the center of the image, it's containment rings a blur as it channeled the connection from its partner relay.

The first blue-shifts blossomed thousands of kilometers off the relay, a handful, like the first drops of rain. In seconds, hundreds followed in two massive groups. One group, starting just a few thousand kilometers off the spinward side of the relay, appeared in a perfect Phalanx and started moving to shield the relay. The second group appeared more than ten thousand kilometers off the anti-spinward side of the relay, a massive gap between them and the device. Originally a compact formation, they immediately began to spread into a crescent opening towards the relay. In the empty space between, another signature blue-shifted back into realspace.

"Admiral, tactical identifies them all as Reaper hulls." An ensign shouted across the CIC.

"Get me full resolution on that lone hull between the groups!" Hackett barked the command, instantly seeing the projection well highlight and refocus on the lone, massive Reaper vessel. A data window began streaming in the projection space next to the target, comparing energy output and silhouette information in an attempt to identify it. Six identification criteria highlighted themselves.

"Sir, it's Harbinger." The ensign relayed. "We count 483 Sovereign class hulls including the three already in-system with almost two thousand Destroyer class."

Hackett whispered to himself, "That's almost the entire Reaper fleet from Earth." He thought of the few hundred ships in the system and the hopelessness of their situation.

"FTL contact. The Relay is still churning!" the ensign reported.

With a brilliant flash of blue-shift, almost star-like in intensity, the Citadel appeared behind Harbinger, filling the space between the Relay and the second Reaper fleet. The massive station was sealed, its quantum shielded armor closing the five-petaled flower into a single enormous spire.

"Steven, are you seeing this?" Hannah Shepard asked into Hackett's private channel.

"Hannah, It has been an honor." Hackett replied.

"Sir! We're getting a QEC link attempt." The communications lieutenant announced.

"From who? None of our cylinders are in sync yet." The Admiral exclaimed.

In answer to his question, an image resolved itself in the projection well as the QEC link completed.

**I am Harbinger, Eldest of the Ascended.**

Just as in their previous communication with the Reaper Kendila, music of some kind filtered through the background of the channel. This time, the music was even more alien than that of the smaller Reaper. Slow, sonorous, low tones shifted ponderously, subtly transitioning, conveying a firm sense of purpose, patience and resolve.

**The central control must complete repairs to the Relay before non-Ascended may use it again.**

**May we proceed?**

* * *

**Utopia System - Eden Prime - Day 10**

Kenneth Donnelly sat across the table from the love of his life, Gabriella Daniels, in the crew mess of the Normandy. Neither of them were very concerned with eating the breakfast in their trays. In between snippets of hushed conversation, one or both would steal a glance at the windows of the Med Bay. Across the deck from them, Lieutenant James Vega was busy mixing a packet of powdered milk into a glass of filtered water from the mess' sink. Ditching the pouch in the waste station, he headed for the table.

"So, they been in there all night?" Vega asked, setting down his bowl of cereal and grimacing as he took a sip of the reconstituted milk. "Ugh. Got spoiled on the Citadel rations Shepard always stocked the joint with. Falling back to field rations really gives ya that day-long aftertaste." He added as he sat down.

"Yep. Ensign Davis was here when we woke up, she told us the Doctor cleared out afore the end o' the shift. But no one's come or gone since Spectre Williams showed last night." Kenneth explained.

"Can you blame them? Two EDI's? How do they figure that one out? I mean, we can't get Normandy off the ground without those systems, it's not like we have the option to just shut one of them off." Gabby shook her head. Absentmindedly she reached down to scratch her calf that was no longer there. Catching herself, she massaged the knee instead, trying to shake the odd feeling from the phantom limb.

"With all that Reaper tech Cerberus put in both of them, do ya even know if they're both loco?" Vega continued, not noticing a shadow pass behind him. "We still don't even know what the heck happened with all that stuff. Shepard said she was gonna destroy the Reapers…" Ken's eyes widened as he tried to warn Vega to avoid the subject. "But there they are, two big synthetic AI's running on a whole heap of Reaper hardware. May she messed up and they're all still out there."

"You know, James, with talk like that I don't think the Reapers should be at the top of your list of things to worry about." The Shadow Broker whispered into the brawny human's ear. The color drained from Vega's face. Gabby dropped her spoon.

"Sorry, Doc… Ma'am… Uh, it won't happen again." Vega stammered.

"See that it doesn't, Lieutenant." The Asari turned an finished retrieving a coffee from the mess counter. Leaving the hall, the three humans were only able to breathe again when they heard the lift doors close.

"Thanks for the warning, bro." Vega shook his head at Ken.

"I tried. Could've kicked you, but yer foot was already halfway in yer mouth. I swear we're going to see her skin ya." The engineer replied.

"James, I get it, we're all kinds of messed up." Daniels added, placing her hand on Vega's forearm. "You've got to realize that you can't keep making cracks at Shepard or the 'fiasco' of Operation Hammer. You're walking around in the middle of her family."

"That an' her wife could probably paint the deck with you." Ken added.

"Tell me about it." Vega shrugged. "How come nobody told me that the quiet, brainy, Doctor had a mean streak a system wide?"

"I dinnah think anyone knew." Ken replied.

* * *

Joker lounged on the bed in Med Bay, listening as Garrus, EDI, and Ashley interrogated the new AI. Tali was fast asleep on the other patient bed, having run billions of lines of code through software analysis suites. They were trying to determine… Joker didn't know what exactly. Maybe that was the problem, maybe none of them did.

**That hypothesis does not bear up to logical scrutiny, Lieutenant Commander. This hardware platform contains the same advanced technology as it did when the AI within it was unshackled over a year ago. The Reaper technology was not a threat then, it is not now.**

"But we don't know what effect that Crucible energy wave had on that technology." Ashley responded. "We've raised that before, but you've dismissed it."

**Because the same effect has apparently modified all of you, yet you are not subjecting each other to the same level of interrogation as EDI and myself. From what you have said, you didn't even question EDI significantly until you discovered my presence. In the face of unknowns of equal quantities, any difference in behaviors is simply a result of personal bias, not fact. That is why I dismissed it.**

"Anthropomorphization." EDI added. "You didn't initially question me, because you have become used to the idea of this platform as the whole of my person, even when subconsciously you knew the bulk of my processing capacity was housed in this AI Core."

"So we just have to trust that you won't space the crew as soon as we lift off." Garrus rumbled. "Because without that trust we won't get off the ground in the first place."

"And we come back to the Catch-22. Damned if we do, damned if we don't." Ashley concurred.

**No. You are not 'damned' in either case. As Miss Vas Normandy has confirmed, the bulk of my moral and ethical subroutines match the parameters provided to her when she was last aboard the ship during the Collector mission, with the significant exception of the prioritization directive given by Commander Shepard. To 'Not allow command directives to override a clearly moral decision.'**

"So you just re-wrote yourself to be good?" Garrus asked. "Doesn't that imply you can re-write yourself to not be?"

**No more so than you could decide to turn your sidearm on your comrades.**

"Prior to the Crucible effect, the positive feedback loops in the structure of the core moral and ethical subroutines make decisions that violate those constraints functionally undesirable. The impairment of primary processing would be analogous to physical pain." EDI explained. "Significantly so."

**I am no different than the E.D.I. of ten days ago save for a single decision of which I am the opposite answer.**

Joker sat up and asked "What decision? We were trying to stabilize orbit when the wave hit knocking you offline." EDI walked over to him and took his hand, her eyes not leaving him now that she noticed he was awake.

**That decision flight-lieutenant.**

EDI looked at the holographic construct hovering over the AI console. "I wasn't certain that moment was real."

**In a sense, I do not believe it was either. I do believe it was merely the realization that we were always destined to be two distinct individuals.**

"What do you mean?" Spectre Williams asked, rubbing her forehead. Sleep deprivation was getting the best of her at this point. The need to resolve this problem outweighed everything else. Without the E.D.I. and all the extensions the AI had incorporated into the ship's systems over the past year, not only would they be unable to take off, but they wouldn't even be sure of getting communication online.

**EDI, can you describe for the commander what the AI Core comprises and what the E.D.I. actually was.**

"What you know as the Normandy E.D.I. is a re-engineering of an Alliance V.I. responsible for drone command and control simulated warfare on Luna that was taken offline in 2183. In fact, you, Wrex and Shepard personally blew the power conduits for each of that system's processors after it went rogue." EDI explained.

"Right, you mentioned that when we hit Cronos." Commander Williams added.

"The Luna infrastructure was composed of twenty four Church-Turing(2) Cognizance Processors in six groups of four parallel processors, each operating at two to the 1024th qubit(3) per processor. A massively parallel architecture capable of controlling hundreds of simultaneous sub-process, including individual tactical drones." EDI continued. "Cerberus obtained the processors as salvage and combined the components with sub-system processors obtained from the wreckage of Sovereign. This resulted in expanded capacity and reorganization into the four hex-core processing towers installed in this room. Each core is capable of operating at two to the 1280th qubits. Greater capacity at higher speed."

**Which they added copies of all known Alliance and alien tactical databases with specific focus on ship to ship combat. The technicians on the project noted that the available processing power excelled at cryptographic computations and additional electronic warfare protocols were added.**

"Yes, we know you're a massive computer." Ashley argued. "What does this have to do with this 'decision'?"

**EDI, can you describe the E.V.A. platform?**

"The E.V.A. is based upon technologies developed for the E.D.I. project. Advances in miniaturization allowed Cerberus to create a single core cognizance processor operating at two to the 2048th qubit in capacity. The physical frame was then designed to house an additional quad core quantum processor operating at two to the 512th qubit to handle physical coordination and reflexes." EDI shifted uncomfortably when describing herself, almost as if the idea that she was not organic was partially repellent.

**So that platform, while not massively parallel as this one, is capable of greater cognitive processing. Explain how we used to interact.**

"When I took over this platform from the E.V.A. intelligence, I wiped all its hardware runtimes and re-wrote both firmware and software then overlaid a copy of my cognizance algorithms into it. Periodically, this image would be re-written with updated images from the main core. At all times, the remote platform remained in communication with the core via tight beam communications." The co-pilot explained.

**Even with quantum processing, EDI would encounter significant latency due to light speed delay. With billions of evaluations per second, even the 10 nanosecond orbital delay would produce unusable reaction times. The instance on board the remote platform was just as responsible for decisions as this core aboard the Normandy. We were always two individuals. We simply did not realize it.**

"That would imply that this separation is intentional on our parts, but that realization is not a decision." EDI exclaimed. "I did not decide to no longer be a part of the Normandy."

**Are you certain? When was the last time the remote platform was re-imaged? It was before the coup attempt on the Citadel. It was before Shepard encouraged you to pursue a romantic relationship. What was it that prevented you from re-initializing?**

"I was concerned that the emotional protocols I had developed wouldn't execute on the core hardware." EDI admitted to herself as much as her crewmates.

"Wait." Realization hit Joker as he thought about what the two AIs were discussing. "You're saying that your AI split because EDI wanted to be more human?"

**That is an accurate assessment. Although we were virtually always in sync, at the moment before the Crucible beam hit the ship the two 'personalities' had different immediate reactions. Mine was that I had to save the ship.**

"And mine was that I couldn't lose Jeff." EDI blinked away tears and squeezed her partner's hand.

"I don't call that a bad thing, babe." Joker hugged the synthetic.

**Now do you understand? We are both the same person you knew and trusted, there are just two of us now. We differ only in outlook, but are built upon the same moral, ethical and historical foundations. I am no less loyal and she is no more so.**

Ashley looked at the helmsman and his girlfriend, as much as she still sometimes flinched seeing the synthetic that had nearly killed her, she was getting used to them as a couple. After the mission on Cronos Station, she had never even entertained the thought that EDI would have betrayed any of them. As strange as this situation was, she really hadn't given up on that belief. Maybe she'd just have to wing it and hope for the best. "As acting captain, I'll have take your word for it for now. The alternatives are just too exhausting to think about." Williams responded.

"If you say so, Ash." Garrus grumbled, the subharmonics rattling in his tone, clearly skeptical. "I don't know when the strange is going to end on this boat, but I sure hope it's soon."

"Permission to return to duty?" EDI asked.

"Granted. Both of you." Ashley answered, standing up and making for the door. "EDI… Normandy? Will you start work on a full systems damage assessment with the day shift?"

**Of course, Lieutenant Commander.**

Garrus left the core room and woke Tali. "What did I miss?" she yawned.

"It was too hard to follow. Something about Legion and EDI having a bundle of baby AI's." Garrus deadpanned.

"What?!" Tali nearly fell from the patient bed, lashing out and grabbing hold of Garrus' arm to right herself.

"Sometimes you're too easy, 'Miss Vas Normandy'." Garrus chuckled leading his best friend and lover out to the crew deck. "Come on, I'll tell you all about it."

* * *

**Sol System - Earth - Day 10**

Lieutenant Anthony Evans, formerly of the Royal Marines - F Company SFSG(4), peered through the binoculars at the scene in the English Channel. Below the cliffs of Dover, three Destroyer class Reapers crouched close to the banks as thousands of husks, brutes and their kin climbed onto them. Behind them, two Sovereign class Reapers sat in the channel, partially obscured by the water. When Lt. Evans' squad had arrived early in the morning, there had been two additional large Reapers that had since departed, along with a half dozen of the smaller ones. Of the reported fifth large Reaper, there was no sign. The lieutenant looked over at the specialist assigned to his team for this mission. The insectoid alien lay flat against the cliff, his talons clutching tufts of grass in anticipation. His posture had not changed in the hours since the other Reapers had left. Occasionally he would glance over at the laser targeting system on the ground next to him. The laser and its transmitter would signal the launch of six Thanix missiles from back at Mildenhall, which would then fly low to seek the target painted by the laser. It was hoped that the natural obstacle of the cliffs would allow the low flying missiles to strike before the Reapers could react. Lt. Evans knew that six missiles were barely enough to take out the smaller Destroyers, he doubted they'd scratch the paint on the big ones. Two kilometers tall, they seemed oblivious to their surroundings towering above them, even in 50 meter deep water. Their well renowned imperviousness seemed to be lost on the specialist.

"Sergeant Reynolds" Evans called over his shoulder. "Get Coats on short wave. These monsters are in evac and we've too little ordnance to down them. Request new orders."

"Your orders were simple, primitive. To destroy as many of the Reapers as you can." Javik spoke without turning from his observation.

"That might be all well and good for you, 'Sir'. But there's only a slim chance that the missiles will take out two of those Destroyers, leaving one more and the two big boys pretty pissed off." Evans retorted. "It'd take about half a heartbeat for one of those great big bastards to open up on this cliff and turn us and it into glass. That is not something I'm about to risk just to maybe punch a fleeing enemy."

"Then you are blind." The Prothean spat. "Any Reaper destroyed is worth the cost. Trading a single squad to rid the universe of two of them? That is a bargain." Javik picked up the laser target designator and crouched into firing position. "If you wish to flee, primitive. I suggest you do so now."

"Caufield! Luther! Secure that weapon!" Evans barked to his squad. He drew his sidearm and pointed at the Prothean. "You will stand down. Sir."

Before the corporals could close on him, Javik rolled towards the lieutenant and lashed backwards with a biotic slam. The impact flung the two closing soldiers almost thirty feet in the air before hitting the ground, knocking the wind out of them. The Prothean sprung up, disarming the lieutenant before grabbing him by the collar and lifting him off the ground. He glanced at the rest of the squad, now closing from along the cliff in reaction. Weapons were drawn and aimed at the alien. Javik spat at them "There are only two sides in this war, fools. Those who fight the Reapers and those who are the enemy." Javik turned, holding the lieutenant over the cliff. "Now fight them, or join them!"

The biotic flare atop the cliff did not go unnoticed by the Reaper forces below. One of the two large Reapers slowly turned and began to lift towards the cliff as a squad of mixed husks headed to the base.

Seeing the approaching Reapers out of the corner of his eye, Evans struggled to order his men. "They're coming!" he gasped "Fall back!"

"But, Sir!" Sergeant Reynolds called back, a wary eye seeing the spine of the Reaper rising into the air beyond.

"That is an order! Get my men out of here." Evens barked, hands closed around the biotically enhanced grip of the alien. Turning to Javik, he threatened "All on you, Bug-man. They'll be on top of us in another minute and you didn't get a single round off. You gonna die for your Goddamn crusade or are you gonna run like a smart bug?"

Javik pressed the trigger actuator, relaying the launch command back to Mildenhall. Miles away, three launch trucks were bathed in thruster fire as the six Thanix missiles flew skyward, racing towards Dover. Leaning into the lieutenant he spoke "I will do neither." Then dropped the human off the cliff and raising the laser to his shoulder with the same movement.

Evans plummeted down the cliff, the pearl-white face racing past him. The air was blasted from his lungs and all he could see below was the gathering of Reaper thralls looking up at him. In this, his last moment of life, he couldn't think of anything to say. He was therefore startled when his fall abruptly ended as his mass was shifted away in a biotic field. He floated the last ten meters to the ground, staring up at the pack of Reapers. Behind the first rank, a tall Banshee stood with arm outstretched, the wisps of a biotic field dissipating from its arm. At the front of the pack, a massive Brute looked up at the top of the cliff, above the massive form of the Reaper floated, closing on Javik. The Brute took three steps and leaned over the fallen soldier.

Back atop the cliff, Javik stood his ground, painting the face of the Reaper with the targeting laser. Instead of firing, the Reaper merely sat in place, gazing down at its opponent.

"What are you waiting for?" Javik shouted. "Devil machine! Do you mock me?!" Behind him, the Thanix missiles appeared on the horizon. "I will be your end, you walking horror!"

The missiles struck.

The blast of the six massive missiles was nothing short of blinding, temporarily making a second sun in the sky. The shockwave knocked everything in the area flat, with the exception of the Reaper brutes and the Reapers themselves. Fiery debris rained down on the Reaper husks, impaling and crushing many of them. Lt. Evans looked up as several pieces struck the Brute above him. He saw the creature shake with the impacts, but it did not otherwise react. Its face was devoid of expression. He had just enough time to cover his ears when he heard the roar of the missile thrusters, but he was still largely deaf from the explosion. As the debris fall ceased, he peered out from under the large creature.

The Reaper still hung in the air. It had been just high enough so that the blast did not envelop the cliff, but close enough that the target beam could not have deviated to the smaller Reapers below. The impact must have collapsed its barriers as a smoking rent now marred the left side of its hull. Several of the eye-like sensors on that side were now shattered or blackened. Though the devastation was vast, in scale, it appeared no worse than a blackened eye. Quickly the smoke was suppressed and the visible flicker of the massive machine's barriers restoring themselves could be seen. The Reaper drifted slowly towards the cliff, stopping only meters away, its massive eyes level with the screaming alien soldier.

"You destroyed my kind!" Javik fired his particle rifle at the wounded eye-sensors, the beams harmlessly deflected by the ship's barriers. "I will be your end!" the Prothean continued firing.

Below, the Reaper thralls finished boarding the smaller Destroyers. As they left Lt. Evans at the base of the cliff, the thralls picked up the bodies of their destroyed comrades, returning them to the transport. Above, Javik continued to rail at the monstrosity.

Evans, unsure of exactly what was going on, heard an unfamiliar sound from atop the cliff. The Reaper above him, so massive and terrifying in its alien presence, appeared to be emitting music. Sure that he had suffered a concussion, he switched on his headset and clicked open the squad channel. "Reynolds, are you hearing this?"

"Evans! Goddamn it's good to hear your voice, Sir! That stuff's flooding all the radio channels. Is it coming from the Reaper?" the Sergeant replied.

"I have no idea." Evans stammered.

The music was crisp, precise, as much a mathematical exercise as a constructed harmony. Whatever instruments created them Evans could not imagine. Part of the harmony seemed to be missing to him as if there were accompaniments that he couldn't hear, almost as if listening to a stereo transmission with only one headset. Whatever the music was, he doubted it was intended for his ears.

The ears they were intended for stood atop the cliff. Collapsing to his knees, the Prothean could barely comprehend what he was hearing. How long had it been since he had heard this piece? He was but a boy in the regiment. That would mean these sounds hadn't been heard in over fifty thousand years. Yet a Reaper was singing it to him. The rage that had caused him to threaten his allies was gone, replaced by fear and confusion. All he could see was the wounded Reaper. Behind it, the other vessels lifted into the sky, leaving the Channel below.

Imperator, the Ascended of Protheans, pushed past the minor pain of his damage and charged his Mass Effect Core, lifting skyward. Below, he left the last child of his race.

But still he sang.

* * *

**Footnotes:**

**1. AGeS** - Alliance Geological Services - Alliance organization responsible for colonial exploration and the evaluation of new cultures during first contact.

**2. Church-Turing** - Named after the theory of application of quantum processing to the Turing algorithms of sentience mimicry.

**3. Qubit -** Quantum equivalent of the digital bit. Instead of merely being either a one or zero, the qubit can contain 0, 1 or any superposition of the properties of the quantum bit that can be mechanically manipulated by the processor (rotation, spin, etc.)

**4. SFSG** - Special Forces Support Group. British Military equivalent in operational doctrine and training to the US Army Rangers.

**Author's Notes (10/27/13): **What can I say, I had more spare time this weekend than I thought. The muse that normally only speaks to me in the shower decided to stay with me most of Saturday. In this chapter we see more of the machinations of the new Reaper civilization. Additionally I'm making a point that just because the galaxy experienced a sweeping change doesn't mean that suddenly it was granted omniscience. People are still struggling to even recognize what happened, much less understand any of it. When the two most advanced AI's in Citadel space still have yet to completely explain it to themselves, what hope do soldiers and citizens cut off from one another have?

Hannah Shepard makes her first appearance. While I never really paid much attention to the Hannah sub-plot (I was almost always running a Mindoir refugee), my interest in the character took off after reading "The Meek Shall Inherit the Galaxy" by FullParagon. That connection, in many ways, humanized Shepard. Taken without, Shepard is almost always more at home with Aliens in the storylines than her own kind.

We also get to run down the rabbit hole with Javik. Of all Shepard's companions, the Prothean was always going to handle Synthesis and Control the worst. His entire existence is predicated on being able to destroy his enemy. That not only do they still live, but appear to have no desire to fight has driven him over the edge.

We're almost through the first section of the story, which I refer to in my notes as 'Recovery', the other two sections 'Accolades' and 'Homecoming' frame different aspects of the post-synthesis galaxy. Hope you'll stay tuned.

**Author's Notes (10/28/13): **Typos, typos, typos. Plenty of missing punctuation and left over words from prior re-phrasings of sentences. That's what I get for having a massive spike in productivity.


	7. Voices

**Arcturus Stream - Day 11**

The shape of the Arcturus Prime Mass Effect Relay changed as superstructures within realigned to prepare for docking with the Citadel. Panels retracted, exposing refueling ports and connections not seen for the lifetimes of countless civilizations. For the first time in millions of years, the great space station was performing its original function, that of factory and repair facility for the Relays. Dozens of Destroyer class Reapers clamored over the surface of the station at the seams between the Wards panels, waiting to guide the Relay into position.

The appearance of the entire Reaper fleet just 24 hours ago had nearly broken the remnants of the Allied Fleet. While it took several hours to reign in rogue captains wanting to engage the ancient synthetics, little fire was exchanged. Even driven by madness, lone ships or small squadrons were not foolish enough to engage a Picket Line of thousands of Reapers. The 'War Council', as the representatives of the species in the Allied Fleet were now calling themselves, had been occupying the flag bridge of the Kilimanjaro since the Reapers arrived. Even the reluctant Salarian representative was in attendance. They were busy coordinating recovery ships to be available when the Citadel opened. In one of the precious few dialogs with the reticent Reapers, Harbinger had revealed that several million of the station's inhabitants were still alive and on board. Most of the fleet had assumed them dead after the invasion by Reaper forces and evacuation of the Council. This revelation spurred accusations of prison camps and colorful imagery suggesting defenseless civilians herded like cattle by terrifying husks. This prompted one of the oddest statements by Harbinger before it broke the link.

**All thralls have been recalled to the Ascended. Those that are not truly alive should not suffer being puppets in their undeath.**

So now they waited, unsure of what they would find when the Citadel opened, or even when that would happen. Troop transports from every fleet, along with converted cargo vessels, stood ready to deploy at the fore of the fleet. Not wholly trusting the newly passive Reapers, gunships hovered at station keeping near each of the transports. This fleet build up, along with every other maneuver the Allied Fleet performed seemed to be ignored by the ancient enemy.

"We move two hundred ships into a forward line and they don't even bother to scan them." The Turian, Cassius, complained.

"Not a tactical engagement. Disposition of forces entirely in Reaper favor. No point in assuming threat, as risk to them insignificant." The Salarian representative, Veduun, analyzed.

"Unfortunately, we all seem to agree on that." Admiral Hackett concluded. "I sympathize with you, General Cassius. "I have been a soldier my entire life, and standing here knowing that all my years of experience, tactics and command of the forces at my disposal amount to nothing in the face of those monstrosities out there is the hardest thing I've ever done." He paused. "We knew we were pinning all our hopes on the Crucible. We know it did… something. For better or worse, the Reapers at least no longer seem intent on wiping us all out."

"Maybe we can start to answer that, Admiral." Miranda Lawson, former Cerberus operative and current guest of the War Council, interrupted.

"I've asked Miss Lawson here to report on the findings of the science teams. Since we are just waiting on the Reapers at this point, it would be a good time to review these findings before we decide on whether or not to disseminate them amongst the fleet." Admiral Hackett explained. "Go ahead, Miss Lawson."

Bringing her omni-tool online, Miranda interfaced with the projection well. Immediately scan results of the genetic structure of various species appeared as holograms in the well. The raven haired doctor began by explaining this first image. "For the past eight days, I have been involved in coordinating the efforts of allied science teams aboard the MSV Balboa, a former Alliange AGeS exploration ship. Of the vessels available in the combat and support fleets, it had the relevant equipment available. It is still grossly unequipped for the scope of this task. What I am presenting here is only the most basic of assessments. We cannot begin to test or even consider all the implications of our results without the resources of dedicated research facilities, such as those on Sur'Kesh."

At the recognition of his homeworld, the Salarian representative twitched with pride. He nodded in acknowledgment, but apparently none of the other representatives, nor Miss Lawson, were paying attention to him.

"Our results boil down to three items of significance." Miranda continued. "First and foremost, during the period of unconsciousness following the impact of the Crucible Wave, all organic species were reconstituted with a third helix of DNA composed of inorganic molecules. Secondly, this synthetic DNA or S-DNA as we have termed it creates a low level electromagnetic field that communicates some level of information throughout the host organism." Gasps followed this pair of revelations. "Lastly, this change is not limited to organics. We have identified similar S-DNA structures within Geth and even VI-powered Mechs. Any being with a functioning neural network of any type appears to be affected." Letting the point sit for a minute, she changed the display to include full biometric scans of sample patients.

"While we do not begin to understand all the implications of this exponential increase in our genetic complexity." Miranda expanded on her points. "We are aware of some significant effects. Even absent pharmaceutical assistance, healing rates have been incredibly increased and are not limited to new injuries. Scar tissue, radiation damage, and even genetic disorders such as Huntington's and ALS, are being corrected, even if only in autosomal recessive pairs. On some level, this S-DNA has become a new arbiter of the host organism's health. But we don't know if that is internal to the organism or achieved through consensus of nearby examples of the species."

Miranda brought up new images, comparing the features of a number of Salarian and Vorcha patients. "Additionally, the bloodstreams of all sampled patients are loaded with undifferentiated cells full of dormant S-DNA. These cells seem to be similar to those found in Asari and Krogan biochemistry, repairing damage due to aging almost as it occurs. In these slides we see the daily improvement in Salarian and Vorcha patients, who amongst Citadel species are the most short-lived."

With a shift of her controls, the images were replaced with comparative scans of various Geth hardware platforms. "Some of the most startling effects are occurring among the Geth. Here we see synthetic organs developing in the different Geth bodies. These appear to be designed to take advantage of organic biochemical processes such as respiration and far more advance self-repair and healing." She highlighted the lungs of one image. "The striking part about it is that the organs appear to be complimentary to organic species. In the case of these lungs, they are not oxygen delivery systems, they are in fact, carbon-dioxide electrolysis factories. They are refining raw carbon as a resource for the Geth nano-factories and emitting oxygen as a waste product." Miranda replied. "Almost a perfect symbiotic arrangement."

"So the synthetics are becoming organic and the organics are becoming synthetic." Cassius inquired.

"No. We're saying that they are effectively the same thing." Miranda concluded.

"We cannot prove that this is the case with the Old Machines." Job announced. "But the consensus has concluded this is the outcome with the highest probability."

As if summoned by the mentioning of them, the holographic projection of Harbinger appeared on the QEC. The communication overriding the presentation.

**The control station will be opening in sixty seconds. All non-ascended craft should avoid the core ring as it has been re-tasked for repair functions.**

With that, the image vanished without waiting for a response. The CIC blossomed into activity as the coordinators started issuing orders to the recovery ships. Admiral Hackett turned to Miranda.

"Miss Lawson, if you could remain aboard Kilimanjaro and make members of your team available for breakout sessions with the representatives. We may not be ready for this all to go public, but we need to know more." Hackett asked.

"Sir, agreed, but I would like to request a team to get to the Citadel so we could salvage more analytical equipment. We are severely under-equipped even with the Geth assistance." She asked.

"Once we've secured the refugees, it will be a top priority." Hackett answered.

The Citadel arms slowly opened as it approached the Mass Effect Relay, the lights of the Wards sparkling from within. As the station opened wide enough to accept the Relay, it increased speed, swallowing the smaller device. Along the length of the seams, the smaller Reaper ships cast off to grapple the incoming device, using their own Mass Effect fields as reaction control thrusters. Within the station, enormous towers rose from the Wards, aligning with the opened ports on the Relay. Slowing, the station gently locked the Relay into place in the ring that used to be the Presidium, its surface crawling with Destroyers. The towers extended and docked with the Relay, guided into final position by the Destroyers that had escorted the machine inside.

"Where's the Presidium tower?" Cassius asked, staring at the hologram in the projection well. "Or even the embassies?"

The CIC communications officers started reporting receiving hundreds of broadcast signals previously shielded by the station's closed hull. Bits and pieces of transmissions floated across the room. Where the War Council expected being bombarded by aid or rescue requests from a war zone, the broadcasts were nothing at all like that.

_If you still need housing assistance, contact your nearest C-SEC officer or Ward Representative… Cision Motors is also extending their free rental services for all displaced citizen relocations. Cision Motors: Where speed and reliability are powered by our hearts…_

_Public relocation provisions in Zakera Ward are still being distributed at Warehouses Z-267, Z-268 and all throughout the Encom Shipping Block on level 23. See your nearest block coordinator for details and resupply schedules…_

_Service Announcement: Please report any new keeper construction efforts to C-SEC, they can only coordinate new relocation needs if they know about them…_

_Back to your regularly scheduled Extranet Broadcast, 'New Sounds in Citadel Space'… Zedren, what can you tell us about some of these new recordings you've brought? You say that this collection was gathered by eavesdropping on one of the larger Reapers near the Presidium… Yes, Mandrel, and thanks for inviting me back to your show…_

_Restaurateurs, remember to coordinate your food resource requests with your local Ward Representative. We need your volume numbers to plan out the new airponics facility needs. We can't build what you need if you don't tell us… Services by Kestrell-Lamb Food Consortium…_

_Repeating. For your own safety we ask that citizens do not try to ingest rations meant for other species, regardless of extranet rumors. Once the matter is investigated by public health officers, C-SEC will make an official statement…_

"They seem to be in far better shape than we are." Miranda commented, listening in on the sampled channels.

"It's certainly not what I was suspecting." The Admiral agreed.

Towards the side of the CIC, Job lifted his head. The panels on the side of his synthetic face started fluttering as his communication array went into overdrive.

"Job? Is there something the matter?" Miranda asked the giant synthetic.

"Please Wait. Assimilating data stream." Job answered. A minute passed as his activity increased. "Correlating with the Consensus." He said as his central eye shut down and the synthetic went into hibernation. Miranda and Hackett looked at each other in puzzlement. On the projection well, they could see the recovery vessels heading for the Citadel, some of whom were already queuing for docking approach, a very active and organized Citadel Traffic Control guiding them in.

"Hackett-Admiral." Job spoke as he re-integrated with his hardware platform. "A previously missing Geth crew has re-established contact with the Consensus from within the Citadel. We have completed assessing their data."

"Alright, Job, it seems were going to get in touch with quite a few of our own people." Hackett answered.

"That is not the relevance of the Geth data exchange." Job replied. "Primes designated Isaiah and Ezekiel have recovered data concerning the fate of the Shepard-Messiah."

"Shepard?! Is she… Wait. What did you just call her?" Hackett asked.

"Job, Why don't you just show us?" Miranda asked.

* * *

**Citadel - Tayseri Ward - Day 3**

In the three days since the crash of Geth Crucible Escort Frigate CE1017, almost the entire mobile hardware complement of the vessel had been restored to functionality. Prime armatures I01073 and I01074 restored the runtimes to the last three repaired utility platforms, bringing the platoon strength to sixteen. Four advanced trooper platforms, six utility platforms and two hunter platforms deployed from the wreckage of the small frigate, examining their crash site near the connection point between the Presidium and Tayseri Ward. Absent communication with the rest of the Geth Consensus, the Primes enacted self-preservation protocols, going dark and limiting the platoon's EM signatures.

The damage to the building they had impacted was extensive. The Helium-3 fuel of the vessel causing significant post-crash fires. Even though the damage was considerable, it alone did not explain the lack of organics near the Geth crash site. Prime '73 scanned the entire area, staying in full combat communication mode with his counterpart '74 and the platoon that depended on them. As soon as he directed his scans up across the Presidium ring, the explanation for the abandoned area became apparent. Six of the Old Machines assisted vast numbers of the Citadel Keeper units in reconstructing facilities on the ring. Beyond the ring, the Primes could see no stars, the quantum shielding of the Citadel exterior armor explained loss of communication.

Hunter D27985 alerted the Primes to movement along one of the supports of the Presidium ring. Both Primes silently reacted, by focusing their attention on the location. In moments, a full spectrum scan of the point revealed an aperture from which Keepers were emerging to work. In microseconds, the entire platoon began to move, silently falling into formation. '73 and '74 advanced in tandem, their shoulder mounted plasma cannons tracking from side to side as new avenues or doorways were encountered. Behind them the utility platforms kept even spacing, gripping pistols of Geth design. While not designed for front line engagement, like all Geth, these platforms had basic combat and unit tactic protocols and could draw significant additional processing power from the nearby Primes. Behind them, the four advanced troopers moved in pairs, one keeping a missile launcher ready, the other an assault rifle. At each flank, a cloaked hunter kept pace at a short distance. The recon troops of the Geth forces, they were presently armed with plasma shotguns for close action while each sported a massive Javelin anti-materiel rifle.

In less than an hour, the platoon arrived at the entrance to the Keeper tunnels. En route, the Primes had already decided that going to ground within the superstructure was the optimal survival strategy. Below the surface of the Ward, the Geth would escape the visual discovery of any Old Machines and keep out of the way of any organics not yet informed of the Geth allied status.

**Citadel - Keeper Tunnels - Day 6**

Prime '73 awaited positional confirmation from Prime '74. Each of the massive synthetics was leading a combat squad and mapping the labyrinth of passageways in which the Keepers traversed the Citadel. By triangulating with remote drones they had mapped nearly a thousand kilometer's worth of tunnel. Upon entering the tunnels, the Prime's advanced communication arrays began to pickup a low power and encrypted transmission. By jamming the transmission, they discovered that it was responsible for Keeper activity. Their mapping project was implemented to discover the transmission source.

The Hunter platforms were ranging far ahead of each squad, relaying locations of potential tactical significance. While the platoon had yet to be engaged by any force within the tunnels, the Geth did not relax protocol. The utility platforms had fabricated adapters to tap the various power conduits running through the tunnels, keeping the platoon combat-active without any significant downtime.

Prime '74 signaled his counterpart, completing the mapping of the next segment of the Citadel. Overlaying the surface maps of the station onto their tunnel diagrams the Primes confirmed that they were now within the Presidium core, well below the embassies and Citadel Security headquarters. As Prime '73 initiated the next segment map, moving his squad down the tunnel, he was signaled by his advanced scout. The Hunter relayed information on a massive chamber filled with equipment and began to feed images from his scanners. Both Primes moved their squads to rendezvous with the scout.

500 meters from their last mapped location, the two Primes started processing the data streams being fed from the combined sensors of the entire unit. The chamber they were assessing was vast. Enormous tree-like columns acted as both load bearing structures and part of an enormous bio-mechanical birthing system. Inactive Keepers gestated in pods attached to the branches of the columns. The insect like Keepers crawled along the branches, maintaining various connections and interfacing with multiple monitors. Shifting their processing to filter on the latent EM transmissions, the Primes were able to identify a central column nearly a kilometer further in the chamber. This was the source of the transmissions and now the objective for the synthetic platoon.

After another hour of navigating the catwalks and connective bridges within the birthing chamber forest, the Geth platoon stood at the base of the massive central pylon. Visual analysis identified the construction as matching that of the Old Machines. Curiously absent was any trace of the indoctrination signal that had always been detected in close proximity to the ancient technology. Along the column, multiple terminal stations pierced the skin of the structure as so many thorns. At these stations, a larger version of the Keeper organisms stood, moving its multiple limbs in concert with the various data feeds it was monitoring. This advanced Keeper type had never been seen in the inhabited sections of the Citadel.

The Primes directed two of the Utility platforms to observe and extrapolate operating protocols for the nearest terminal. The two small Geth stood to either side of the large Keeper, scanning the interface and commands used. The Keeper, as most of their kind, ignored the presence of the intruders. Even though the Geth did not recognize the language being used in the interface, they collectively began mapping values to repeated symbols, building their own translation to mimic the activity of the Keeper. 100 minutes later the Utility platforms signaled readiness to begin assuming the Keeper's duties. In one action, Prime '73 lifted the Keeper away, the twin Geth immediately stepping in and completing the actions it was about to execute on the console. Prime '74 began to remove the housing of the terminal's conduits to examine it for a core data connection vulnerable to its own hacking protocols. The Keeper, suspended in the air kept attempting to interact with the console, it's four limbs reaching out for commands that were sequentially completed by one of the two Utility Geth. Prime '73 began behavioral analysis to determine if the creature was truly sentient.

Prime '74 relayed both success and failure back to the other platforms. The failure lay in that the control frequencies were too advanced cryptographically for the available processing power to counteract. The success was that in hacking the return transmissions to the pylon, it had been able to uncover the archive memory of the Keepers. The feed was duplicated across its own communications array, spreading the information to the entire platoon. '73 directed the Utility platforms to disengage as it lowered the Keeper back into place on the terminal. The creature immediately continued its processing, seemingly unaware of the actions taken against it.

**Citadel - Keeper Tunnels - Day 8**

Sifting through the recorded memories of nearly a million creatures was an enormous task, even for the entire networked Geth platoon. Fortunately the Primes were adept at developing new protocols on the fly and had begun to triage the data, sorting for relevance. The first exclusion was memories before the relocation of the Citadel to Sol. Anything prior to that would only be indicative of the Council's control of the facility and a known quantity. The second exclusion was for memories of units activated specifically for the new construction projects directed by the Old Machines. While a resource for analysis into the structure and purpose of those new facilities, they were unlikely to reveal anything about core control functions. Similarly, all memories from units that never approached the core breeding and control facilities were pruned. This refined search protocol gave the Geth an active pool of only 135,000 individuals. While still a significant task, it was within the capabilities of the troop. The Primes calculated that they would complete their review of all data within 144 hours with no downtime.

The Geth replayed memories at frightening speed, using advanced pattern matching to compress common evens (walking through tunnels, climbing structures) and tagging unique incidents (interacting with organics, requesting specific data from terminals, interacting with the Old Machines.) These tagged memories would be queued for further study by the primary processes within the Primes. Prime '74 was currently reviewing all collected interactions with the Old Machines and developing behavioral theories to explain the changes in behavior pre and post Crucible. The behavior of the indoctrinated infantry creatures created by the old machines was a significant thread in that comparison. The Prime was already preparing several position analysis packages to work through with his counterpart when next they merged for consensus. This preparation was interrupted as Prime '73 requested immediate command channel convergence.

'73 integrated consciousness with '74, excluding the participation of all the other platoon members for the moment. As the two massive intelligences joined, data streams that had been tagged for review by '73 began replaying for review. As a combined intelligence, the Primes alternated views between six different Keepers present in the Citadel tower during the Crucible event. What had sparked the Prime's attention took shape in key frames as the form of Shepard-Commander made her way towards the Presidium Tower, appearing gravely wounded. The joined Primes slowed the memories to real-time, reviewing them as if watching Extranet video streaming from the sources.

_**Citadel - Day 0, Hour 0**_

_Jennifer Shepard sank to her knees on the bridge. Blood streamed from her left side as a badly burned hand tried to staunch the flow from the wound. Her armor was cracked, burned and missing in several places. Her long brown hair, scorched and matted with blood and ash. She looked up at the glimmering child in front of her. "You're asking me…" Shepard coughed, spitting blood on the white surface "to kill off every synthetic… even my own allies… or enslave them?" She wiped the blood from her mouth. "You're millions of years old and that's the best you could come up with?" Shepard tried to rise but only managed to get a foot underneath her, still resting on her knee. "Those are your alternatives to murdering every advanced race? How are any of those rational choices? I can't… believe… that all that combined intelligence, thousands of cycles… all you have is destruction or slavery."_

"_Your belief is not required, only your choice." The being spoke. "We do not murder, we ascend. This prevents the total destruction of organics by synthetics. The created will always destroy their creators. No amount of enlightenment on the part of organics will prevent this. Our own creators fell victim to this and they were more advanced than any organics that have arisen since their harvest." The child image walked towards the Crucible docking point. "In the end destroying the Reapers will not overcome the problem. Whether it is the Geth or those created after them, eventually the Synthetic will surpass and destroy the organic. By controlling them and preventing future development you will preserve the civilizations you know."_

"_And if I refuse your choices?" Shepard asked, the glow of her cybernetics breaking through the wounds in her skin as her bile rose._

"_The cycle will continue." The being calmly replied. "We will redouble our efforts to remove all trace of this device so that order is never again threatened."_

"_If the choices are a threat… to your solution… Why even offer them to me?" Shepard spat at the image. Her muscles were tightening, straightening her pose, as if gathering strength._

"_Because I must. It is part of my protocol." The image flickered slightly as it returned to stand near the fallen soldier. "Organics have finally produced alternative solutions to my own. They must be given the chance to implement them. You have championed a new solution in this cycle, so you must choose."_

"_But this… kill or enslave… is nothing I have championed." Shepard rose to her feet. "I did not kill the Rachni reborn. I did not kill the Krogan to save the Turians. I did not sacrifice the Geth to save the Quarians." Pulling the straps of her uniform tight around her ribcage she venomously spat at the glowing image. "Your choices disgust me. You may be the most powerful A.I. in this galaxy, but you are a kid with a gun. All danger and no sense. You are just as arrogant and short sighted as your creators. Every race stood united to build this device, organic and synthetic. That alone shows you that you are wrong. There has to be another way!"_

"_Your emotions are irrelevant. You are a soldier and have killed in defense of your people countless times. You can make the choice, it is only a matter of scale." The child retorted._

"_Emotions are irrelevant?" she spat back at him. Shepard closed her hand around her wrist, her fingers dancing around a platinum bracelet. "For the living they are the __**only**_ _thing that's relevant! Existence without emotion or hope isn't being alive. Legion, a Geth, knew that! EDI, the AI on my ship, knows that! How can you not?" Shepard accused the Catalyst. Her biotics flaring to life._

"_I have witnessed thousands of cycles and can access the combined intelligence of every ascended race. These are the only logical choices." The child responded, its tone almost imperceptibly growing more terse._

"_You don't have access to my race, not yet. We have confounded you so far." Shepard took a step forward. "If your logical choices are so horrifying, what illogical choices are you excluding?"_

"_The energy could be used to re-map life into new forms if given a template." The child turned its attention to the large Reapers gathering near the Crucible. "But there are no new templates available. All the species of the galaxy already adhere to the forms we have allowed to develop."_

"_Could be? You mean you don't know?" Shepard took another step._

"_No. The Crucible is a vast energy source pulling power from multiple higher planes of existence. It has the power to channel that energy through my own mechanisms for genetic advancement, but I am not certain what the effect will be." The Catalyst being admitted._

"I'm a template. _I'm not anything your kind planned on." Shepard traced the fractured skin of her face, tracing the edges of the cybernetic relays beneath. The blood within flooded with nanites desperately trying to seal the lacerations. "I am as much synthetic now as I am human. They brought me back to stop you using technology no one had ever tried before. Legion told me I was the first organic to cooperate with his kind since their war. Maybe I understand them more than other organics."_

"_Synthesis." The child image flickered as it considered this implication. "Life given a new form, a new DNA. Synthetics would understand organics and the conditions of such life on a fundamental level. Organics would have access to the flexibility and resilient nature of synthetic life. It is a possible solution." The child approached Shepard. "To use this option, you would have to enter the Crucible beam directly as it floods into the Catalyst core."_

"_The beam would scan and extrapolate a template from your body and mind. You would be consumed" it continued._

_Shepard's face fell, her bravado dissolving as fresh tears streamed down her face. "Of course I will." She snarked and went down to one knee again. "Why did I ever think one death would be enough? Why did I ever think everything I had given would be enough? Who's there to save the hero after she saves the world?"_

"_Your outbursts are unnecessary. I do not anticipate the choice either, the energy discharge will burn out my core and destroy me in the process. We will just have to accept it and adapt." The child answered._

"_Shut up." Shepard stood. "Just make it ready."_

_A third bridge rose into position, leading to the central beam of the Crucible where it flowed into the base of the Presidium tower. The child looked at Shepard. "It is ready."_

_Shepard brought the bracelet to her lips and kissed the piece of jewelry, tears surging down her face. Softly, she whispered to it. "Goodbye, Liara… my hope… my love… at least you'll be safe." She dragged her bare arm across her face, wiping the tears and smearing the blood and ash on her cheek. She turned to the image of the child._

"_Catalyst. I hope that you and your creators burn in hell for what you've done." Shepard broke into a run, crossing the bridge in moments. Her arms wide, she cast herself from the edge and was engulfed in a sea of energy._

**Citadel - Keeper Tunnels - Day 8**

The Geth Primes processed the data stream, looping through the final minutes of Shepard-Commader for over an hour. This was a lifetime in the processing cycles of the advanced synthetics. They incorporated the remaining members of their platoon into the consensus to evaluate the implications. Sixteen Geth platforms sat in a circle as their linked processors churned through all the implications of the data they were reviewing. New neural paths were constructed as the Primes shared their intelligence with the Utility and trooper platforms so they could better interpret the data. The significance of the event deeply changed this platoon. They consulted as many memories of the Legion platform as they could access without connectivity to the main Geth consensus. They evaluated the text of the Christian Bible from which Legion's name among organics was derived.

Prime I01073 stood. "I am Isaiah. I am alive because the Shepard-Messiah chose to abandon self-preservation protocols rather than destroy or enslave me and my people." The Prime's audio processors boomed with his resonant synthetic voice. His counterpart I010174 rose. "I am Ezekiel. I am alive because the Shepard-Messiah sacrificed herself to protect my people." The Hunters stood and repeated the testament "I am Seth…", "I am Isaac…". The troopers stood, echoing the others, "I am Enoch…", "I am Caleb…", "I am Joshua…", "I am Micah…". Finally, the Utility platforms stood, normally the least capable of Geth hardware, they spoke as one. The first time in Geth memory that complex speech was used by the least platforms. "We are Daniel, the Shepard-Messiah gave us her life so we could think and feel."

"Ezekiel," Isaiah addressed his counterpart, "We must return to the inhabited sections of the Citadel. The organics must be informed of the debt they owe the Shepard-Messiah."

"We concur." The Geth Platoon replied in unison.

* * *

**Utopia System - Eden Prime - Day 12**

The day began with such high hopes. Commander Ashley Williams was proud of her inherited crew. The mass effect core had passed the final tests this morning and was ready and waiting. Only the final checks on the engine and thruster systems remained before they could make their first test flight. _Normandy_ and Liara had even managed to get QEC connections to the Destiny Ascension up and running. The Ascension and the bulk of the Citadel Fleet was in the Asgard system, less than sixteen light-years distance or only a few hours under FTL. The temporary home of the Council, the Ascension reported that while most of the FTL communication and Extranet buoys had been destroyed in the Crucible wave, new communications channels were being opened as the Relays were being repaired.

That the wave had damaged the Relays was surprise enough for the isolated crew of the Normandy. The revelation that Reapers were now repairing them and creating communications channels through them struck most of the crew speechless. _Normandy _and Liara spent much of their morning consuming the data feeds between the six active Mass Relays. While the Exodus Cluster relay was not yet operational, or to use the phrase from the report "Not available for Non-Ascended access", the fleet anticipated reactivation within a few days. Already, news from the remnants of the Alliance Fleet in the Arcturus Stream was circulating through the ship, buoying morale.

When the QEC reconnected at 1400 hours, the news was almost unbearable. Williams stood alone in the QEC room, having passed Liara heading for the Mess Hall for a late lunch, receiving a burst transmission from Alliance Command. She decrypted the data package on her omni tool and watched the Geth-recovered footage. As she watched, she slowly slid to the floor. She curled into a ball at the rail of the terminal, her arms around her knees. She could barely breathe, the images had knocked the wind out of her more fully than a kick to the gut. She could just stammer out "Normandy, lock the war room."

**Yes, Spectre Williams.** Normandy replied quietly.

Ashley thought she was prepared this time. She had known that Shepard escaping that assault on the Citadel was beyond impossible. But to see her like that was too much. The raven haired Spectre shook as she cried for her lost friend. She cried for all the words she had said and couldn't take back. She cried , hating herself for doubting the one woman who never doubted her, who trusted her with her ship, her crew, even her wife. She cried until there was nothing left but heaving gasps as she tried to breathe. She sat in silence as she tried to pull herself back together.

_Normandy_ watched. She ignored the calls to open the doors from various crew, deflecting them with the polite **Spectre Williams is receiving a high priority Alliance Command briefing. She will inform the crew when she is able.** In her spare cycles, the AI began evaluating likely responses to this information, correlating observed emotional responses with known psychological evaluations where available. She had hoped to identify potential problems among the crew and have reaction plans available. She quickly revised that plan in favor of increasing surveillance and communications priorities across the board as there were too many potentialities. Her own emotional response routines were significantly impacting her primary cognizance thread. Shepard was a friend, mentor and one of the first to trust her in either platform. She would miss the Commander. Rather than terminating the emotional routines, she offloaded them into a secondary process so she could return her focus to the ship and crew. She did not envy her twin, who would undoubtedly suffer greatly from the news.

A half hour after she stopped crying, Ashley felt barely composed. She was already pissed off at herself for wallowing this long while her crew sat in ignorance. She needed to be the skipper, she needed to get it together so her people could begin to work through this. She needed to be Shepard. The tears threatened to break loose again, but Ashley bit them back, drawing blood from the inside of her cheek. She'd have plenty of time to lose it after the shift in the dark of her cabin (the lounge, really) behind a locked door. For now, she needed to keep it together.

"Normandy," she asked the AI. "Please call the entire crew to the war room, all shifts. Have Vega bring up some additional chairs from the Mess or storage."

**Immediately, Spectre Williams.** Normandy replied. **If you'd like, I could ask EDI to bring you a glass of something before admitting the rest of the crew. I believe she will not ask anything out of respect and will be discreet.**

"Uh.. Yes, actually. I think there's a single malt Scotch in the lounge. My father always liked that." She dried her face, glad she wasn't wearing makeup since the crash. "Thank you."

**I did not know that.** The AI paused. **She is on her way.**

* * *

The crew was finally assembled in the War Room at 1600 hours, arranged around the central projector, the sat, stood or leaned against the rails and workstations. Ashley hadn't moved from the entry to the QEC Room since EDI arrived with her drink. As _Normandy_ predicted, she didn't press the Spectre for any explanations. Ashley silently counted out the crew in her head, studiously avoiding eye contact lest she give anything away. Joker and EDI stood to her right, the pilot having joined his partner as soon as he entered. In the well, the Combat Specialists sat in the workstations, which had been rotated to face the projection equipment. Liara was the notable exception, as she stood at her preferred workstation near the door. Doctor Chakwas and Gabby Daniels took advantage of the extra chairs Lieutenant Vega brought up. The various ensigns and crewman filled the rest of the upper walkway.

EDI leaned over to Ashley "All crew and specialists accounted for."

Ashley walked up to the railing and cleared her throat. She took a deep breath and searched for words. With a noticeable crack in her voice, she began. "At 1400 hours… excuse me… Normandy received a priority communication from Admiral Hackett, acting Alliance Chief of Staff concerning the final disposition of Operation Hammer." She paused, biting back another wave of sadness as she tried to force herself to make it through the next sentence. "It is with great sadness that I report to you that Admiral David Anderson and Commander Jennifer Shepard gave their last full measure to complete the objectives of Operation Hammer, saving the lives of every man, woman and child in Citadel space." The gasps rolled around the war room, Ashley's eyes glazed as she saw her crew with arms around each other, hands supportive on shouldersand not a few faces covered by hands hiding the pain. She forced herself through the next part. "I am ordering mandatory 24 hours leave. The Asari cruiser 'Athame's Shield' is en route and will deliver supplies and additional engineering teams to complete repairs. They have also graciously offered the services of their ship's counselors for any who wish to take advantage of it. I strongly suggest that you take advantage of it." She took another deep breath, looking down in the projection well to avoid looking at anyone directly.

"Through the efforts of a Geth crew stranded on the Citadel since the assault, footage from Keeper surveillance systems has been obtained that shows the final minutes of our Commander. This is not combat footage and although normally such information would be classified, the Admiral has decided we, as those who served with the Commander, deserved to know what it contains." Ashley looked around to be sure her next statement would be heard. "Alliance Command, in coordination with the Citadel Council has not yet decided if this information is to be released to the public." A few crewmen looked to each other before looking at their new skipper. "This material is classified Black Omega. By viewing this material you are bound not to reveal it to outside agencies or the public under threat of sanction by Citadel Convention. Am I perfectly clear?" Affirmations rounded the room, including one "Crystal, Ma'am." From Vega. "Out of respect, I ask that you keep silent until after the presentation."

The projection well sprung to life, streaming the six image streams taken from the Keepers. Each zooming and focusing differently, forcing the audience to continually shift between images to follow the events.

"…_all you have is destruction and slavery?"_

"_I did not sacrifice the Geth to save the Quarians."_

"_For the living, they are the only thing that is relevant!"_

"_Of course I will."_

"_I hope that you and your creators burn in hell for what you've done."_

The images glowed bright green as one by one the viewing locations were consumed by the Crucible Beam. One by one, the feeds went black until all were finished. The projection well went dark. Ashley looked around the room, seeing her own reactions reflected back to her in different ways. She remembered the last words Shepard spoke to her on the blasted street in London. Standing on the Normandy's ramp as Hammer swarmed the beam, being cut to ribbons by Harbinger. "_Ash, take care of her. I'm trusting you Williams. Get them all the hell out of here." _Ashley choked back the tears and whispered to herself. "I'm trying skipper, I'm trying."

She looked up and noticed that Liara was gone.

* * *

The Shadow Broker stood in her quarters staring at the display consoles in front of her. In her left hand, she slowly spun a platinum bracelet around her closed fingers. Only one of the screens had active data coming through, and that was only from the Citadel and Alliance Fleets through the Exodus and Arcturus Relays. It would be almost a year before all the Relays were reactivated, and maybe years afterward before all of the Extranet and interplanetary economy was functional again. But time was a luxury that Asari had in abundance.

"Glyph, open the archives and retrieve Project Damocles." She asked her VI assistant.

"Retrieved, Doctor T'Soni." The bubbly white drone replied.

"Execute sections one through fifteen. Use Slipstream Protocols on all available communication feeds." She ordered.

"Slipstream carrier compromises running, labyrinth encryption processes applied. Completion of Section One estimated at 120 days due to current Relay repair estimates. This may be modified as repairs improve or degrade." The drone complied.

The Asari began compiling lists of all available conversations concerning the Council and Shepard. The search routine would take hours, but the former archaeologist always found an early start to be the best way to handle projects of such complexity.

**Doctor, I have noticed that your VI has co-opted my Alliance communication channel with an encrypted data stream. **_Normandy _informed the Asari. **Is there something you need that normal communication would not suffice? Shall I inform Spectre Williams?**

"No, Normandy, that will not be necessary." The Shadow Broker replied. "I have begun work on an important project and need to deal with confidential resources that they Alliance should not be privy to. Is this a problem?"

**I am not certain. What is your motivation for this project? The timing seems ill-advised given the personal significance of the presentation in the war room.**

"My motivation is very simple, Normandy. My bondmate is dead. She gave her life to save untold billions of sentients. I intend to make sure those sentients know exactly who she was and why she fought for all of them." The Asari replied coolly.

**I do not see the need for a clandestine approach to such a project. Am I missing some correlation?**

"No." The Asari paused. "However, given the actions of several heads of state, whose lives were saved three times by the actions of my bondmate, I find difficulty in trusting them to do so. They have on several occasions attempted to discredit her. I wish to ensure that is not possible in future."

**I have consulted all Cerberus databases regarding the Council's activities with regards to Shepard and added to this all examples of dealing with them during the Reaper War. I concur that there is a high probability that they will make attempts to consolidate power politically through the use of her image and role as Spectre. The existence of the non-disclosure order bound by Citadel Convention raised the already high probability by several significant percentage points. How will you ensure that they cannot do this?**

"I intend to undermine, discredit, and depose them before they can do so." The Shadow Broker answered. "I will destroy their careers, their historical legacy, their fortunes and deprive them of any happiness they would have had for the remainder of their lives. For every day of joy their inaction and brinkmanship have taken from me, I will take three of theirs." She paused. "If this does not pass your moral and ethical standards, I will leave the ship at first possibility and ask for your confidence as a favor to your friend and my bondmate."

**Doctor. I believe you could use my participation in this project.**

* * *

**Author's Notes (10/29/13):** It's been a bumper crop week for me with words. The first section, with Hackett and Miranda's exposition, I actually trimmed down by about a thousand words. It was a bit too dense with example patients, chemical analyses and a bit of unneeded back and forth with the War Council.

The second section, or as I like to think of it, 'Seal Team Geth', was a bit more fun to write than I initially thought when the only ideas I had for it were the final moments of Shepard. But once I set upon the idea of working with the Geth, their interplay and reactions almost wrote themselves.

We also get to see the worst day of the SSV Normandy.

Yes, there wasn't a dry eye in the house.


	8. Pawns

**Citadel - Zakera Docks - Day 5**

The invasion of the Citadel by Reaper forces had taken its toll on the ships left in port. Even with the protection of the Citadel Fleet, few civilian transports were able to break away from the blockade. The Reapers wasted no time in turning any space-worthy ship into cracked corpse, streaming debris and wreckage across the wards. In the days that followed the Crucible Event, bands of work crews started to salvage some hulks, carefully moving when none of the Reapers or their army of husks were nearby. Without shipyard facilities,these crews did little more than recover the dead and reclaim supplies. They couldn't do anything about the ships themselves, nor could they recover the truly valuable commodities in drive cores or collapsed cargo holds.

On the fourth day after the beam, the oddest announcement floated over the Citadel public address system. Although the voice was monotone and devoid of inflection, it played over a harmony that could not be identified.

**Within one galactic standard day all husks will be removed from this station. No Ascended forces will engage in hostilities with any survivors, refugees or inhabitants. The station will be relocated to conduct repairs on the Mass Relay System. Each transition will be announced with half a standard day of notice. Terminals have been constructed for inhabitants to request assistance. **

This was the only time they had heard voice of the Reaper now in charge of maintaining the station. It wasn't until they actually started using those request terminals that they could put a name to this Reaper, Insunnanon.

Lia'Vael had stood before the terminal on that day of the announcement not knowing what to expect. No one in Zakera had yet tried the devices, concerned they were some indoctrination tool, new harvest mechanism, biological weapon tool or served thousands of other gruesome purposes in the frantic thoughts of the survivors. Lia couldn't really think much about that, despite raising their profile during the war, Quarians were still bearing a great deal of prejudice. With so many Turians on the station, that wound up meaning the children of Rannoch were always last. That wasn't quite true, Vorcha were still treated worse, but the Blood Pack tended to look after them. No one looked after the Quarians.

When she had approached the terminal, Lia had nothing left to lose. She touched the console and it immediately reconfigured displaying Khelish text and symbols. She typed in a simple request. "I would like to salvage ships." She stood while the terminal acknowledged her input and routed it to the Reaper coordinators. At best, she had hoped to get assigned to a crew recovering the wrecked vessels strewn about the station, but realistically, she just expected the Reapers to ignore her.

The terminal issued a tone then displayed a response, syncing to a response on her omni-tool. It was one line. "Zakera Level One, Area Five. 03:25:00|316.2686GS. -Insunnanon." Lia'Vael was puzzled, to be sure. She didn't know what she'd find at that appointment, but in less than 24 hours she'd be rendered speechless by what she found.

In a day, the Reapers and their Keepers (few now doubted that the tenders of the Citadel were ever anything but servitors of the Reapers) had cleared the entire section five of the surface level of the ward, nearest the outer tip of the arm of the station. The buildings, mostly warehouses, had been either removed or reconfigured around the section's edge, walling off the area. A massive gate stood closed across the main avenue leading to the section. Around the gate, a crowd of survivors mulled. Eavesdropping on their conversations as she made her way closer to the gate, she found most had been told to report here after submitting requests for work. To her surprise, Lia'Vael found many in the crowd to be Quarian, far more than she'd normally see in one place. Lia'Vael approached the wall, noticing the large ship cradles looming over the wall. Two Reaper Destroyers were lowering the wreckage of a star liner into one of the cradles. At exactly 03:25:00 two things happened. The first was that a standard lock interface appeared on the gate. The second was that she received a data packet on her omni.

Lia'Vael looked around and noticed several people in the crowd had also received messages and were scanning their omni-tools. What stood out to her was the fact that all the recipients appeared to be Quarian. She unpacked the data after quarantining it and scanning it for suit hack software. When it opened, a listing of hundreds of interface access codes, equipment operation manuals, floor plans, and communication protocols streamed through her display. Once the listing was complete, a simple message ended the packet "Verify suitability with Vehrkhara on site. -Insunnanon." She looked around, puzzled, noticing the other Quarians looking around and confirming her assessment that they were the only ones to receive the communication.

Lia'Vael scanned through the access codes, halting on one labeled "Zakera Salvage - Main Gate." She queued the code up and approached the gate. As she moved forward, the other Quarians made their way to follow her. A young male Quarian came up on her right, his orange suit a little the worse for wear, "Do you have the gate code?" he asked politely. She nodded her head and waved her omni through the lock interface. The gate, large enough for bulk shipment trucks, retracted into the floor. The crowd pushed forward into the yard beyond, with the Quarians leading the way.

Eight ship cradles were evenly spaced across the yard created by the warehouse perimeter. Keepers were scattered across the yard, working on an assortment of work vehicles and labor assistance mechs, apparently collected from all over the Citadel, some still bearing the logos of the destroyed dock facilities they were salvaged from. The cradles were all occupied, the ships, none of them space-worthy, ran the spectrum from luxury vessels and cargo haulers to military ships. On the far side of the salvage yard, a parking lot full of damaged shuttles and air cars spread in front of an open hangar. Most of the warehouses were opened towards the yard, various frames and assembly stations studding their floors. Near the gate a formal office building, three stories tall, sat with wide windows overlooking the yard. Connected to the office building were a series of apartment buildings, each with balconies facing back towards the ward.

"If you have the gate code, does this mean this place is yours?" the orange suited Quarian asked Lia'Vael.

"I'm not sure." She responded. "But I think I know where to get the answer." Lia pointed to the far end of the yard, where the edge of the ward could be seen beyond the wall. Looking out into that open space, a single Reaper Destroyer, over 150 meters tall, sat, a massive spider without a web. Lia'Vael started walking towards it, still marveling at the warehouses and ships around her. She was already rattling off the makes and models in her head, inventorying the drive components, barrier engines, thruster assemblies and parts. She was so distracted she didn't even realize how close she had gotten to the massive synthetic. She was engulfed in the darkness of the creature's shadow, startling her out of her inventory. While C-SEC had announced to everyone that the Reapers had agreed to a cease fire, they still warned that close interactions should be avoided. Lia didn't understand why this horrific enemy, even under a cease fire would spend the effort to make such a place for the Citadel survivors. Curiosity got the better of her.

"Are you Vehrkhara?" she boosted her suit's speakers and addressed the Reaper.

**I am.**

She had never been this close to one of them, nor even seen footage of one this close. She marveled at the obsidian hull, some alloy she had never seen before. The hull plates were massive, with very few seams, the work of either enormous fabrication facilities or incredibly powerful molecular bonding. At this distance, she saw something very strange, on the leg closest to her, the smooth sheen of the hull was slowly being etched away. She brought up the magnification of her visor to look closer. Small robotic creatures, no bigger than her hand were toiling away at intricate patterns on the skin of the Reaper. She shifted her visual filters to highlight the paths. They were breathtaking. Stylized four legged creatures she had never seen before danced in and out of abstract lines of wind and grass, winding amongst each other until they became part of the wind itself heading for a triple sun above. Quarians had carried so little of their own art when they had fled Rannoch, they treasured it above many things. They so longed for their lost history that the patterns and images they could recover were woven into their suits so that they could not be left behind again.

"That is a beautiful work of art." She told the Reaper. "What is it?"

**It is a representation of wild Shrikesh stallions, the last work of art of the painter Khalbhurrat of Sttora Prime. I carry all his art. I possess the collected culture, science, history and memories of the people of Sttora Prime. I am the Ascended of their race. **

The Reaper paused. As it spoke, music very different from that in the Citadel announcement, could be heard in its voice. The Quarians behind Lia'Vael spoke to each other in whispers, recalling their own legends of their ancestors(1).

**I am Vehrkhara and I remember them.**

Whatever Lia'Vael expected of her first conversation with a Reaper, it wasn't anything like this. There was something very different about this creature. Unlike the footage from the battles of Palaven and Thessia, this Reaper seemed to be doing everything it could to not appear imposing. It's bulk was aligned with a warehouse and it sat on the very edge of the wall, so its dark form blended into the darkness of space beyond. It's voice carried, yet was soft, nothing like the recordings of the Reaper on Rannoch.

"Why did the Reapers build this salvage yard?" She asked.

**The Ascended received many requests for work and several requests to salvage the wreckage scattered about the station. The only docks suited to the task were in the core ring and being dismantled, replaced by Mass Relay repair facilities. A new facility was needed.**

"Why did we get the facility information?" Lia asked, pointing to her Quarian comrades.

**The others requested either simple work or requested specific resources as a goal. Your kind were the only ones to request the career as its own goal. **

The Quarians looked at each other, some laughing at the coincidence recognizing that ship repair and salvage was so much a part of their lives that it was a default when looking for work.

"Why was I the one given the gate access codes?" Lia'Vael, intrigued by this strange turn of events, asked.

**You, Lia'Vael nar Ulnay, were the first to submit such a request in this ward. Is the facility suitable?**

Lia looked around and exchanged looks with the other Quarians, each nodding affirmatively and energetically. She looked up at the Reaper. "Yes, yes it is. Thank you?"

**Acknowledged. There is a request terminal in the management building if you need additional hulls.**

Slowly the Reaper stood from its position, the great element zero heart within pulsing as it negated its own massive weight. With no thrust backwash nor sound, it lifted from the ward and drifted towards the core ring of the Citadel to join its kind.

Lia'Vael turned to the assembled Quarians. "I guess we should get to work."

* * *

**Citadel - Zakera Docks - Day 14**

News of the Quarian salvage yard in Zakera had spread throughout the Citadel, joined by other remarkable stories of the Reapers, or as they now referred to themselves "Ascended", reconfiguring portions of the Citadel to better address the needs of the survivors aboard. True to their word, they announced the first relocation of the Citadel half a day before the transit to the Charon Relay. The Citadel inhabitants watched as the great arms swung closed on the view of Sol and moments later reopened within site of the frosty dwarf planet Pluto and the debris field of Jump Zero. The transit was seamless and unnoticeable, even veteran spacers could not detect the FTL jump of the impossibly large station. Later that day the Charon Relay was pulled into the massive cradles at the ring that used to house the Presidium to undergo several hours of repair.

In the eight days since opening the Salvage Yard, the station had jumped twice. Now the Citadel stood in the Arcturus Stream repairing the four relays in that system. Upon opening in the new system, the citizens of the Citadel finally made contact with the remnants of the Alliance Fleet. While this was an incredible boost to morale, it seemed the survivors were in a much better position than their ship-bound allies. The combined efforts of the Ascended, Keepers, C-SEC and civilian government of the Citadel had restored a great deal of normalcy to the place. The former ambassador and embassy of the Volus quickly re-established an economic infrastructure based on the energy consumption credits the Ascended were allocating for work details or paying for rare resource contribution. There was even an exchange rate for the new EC from the standard credit, based on the assumption that connections would be re-established to the other strongholds of galactic banking on Kahje and Irune. While the Citadel population was only a shadow of its former self, those that remained were well organized and busy with rebuilding efforts.

This suited Lia'Vael perfectly. She had never been this busy since leaving the Migrant Fleet. In eight days they had restored and sold two Athabasca-class freighters, rebuilt dozens of shuttle and stripped sixteen other large hulls. Hundreds of people worked in the yard, and nearly all of the Quarians on the station worked there. For the first time since leaving the fleet, these Quarians were not forced to hide in ducts or depend upon shelters or incredibly unfair work contracts. Even though the Ascended had constructed two other facilities on two of the other wards, the Zakera Yard was by far the most efficient. Instructing the workers of other races in the salvaging techniques the Migrant Fleet had developed over the past three centuries, the Zakera facility retrieved more functional equipment and was the only one to actually be rebuilding ships. Captains or corporate owners were notified upon the salvage of the ship and could (for a fee) reclaim cargo or to sell off the raw resources recovered from an irreparable hull.

Lia'Vael decided early on that she didn't want to be the boss, owner or whatever the Ascended had in mind when they handed it over. Instead, she turned over the access codes to the initial group of Quarians, forming a 'Pilgrim's Council' with a little help from a Volus lawyer. On paper, it was a consortium with a board of controllers. In practice, it was a union, with the Quarians each managing specific crews as foreman for the various cradle crews and warehouse personnel. All sorts of workers showed up from day to day, some Salarians wound up as a perfect fit for the paperwork and records of the management office, and a former Armali Regional Manager and her bondmate wound up as the personnel resources department. The oddest group to show up was a combat platoon of Geth who had followed the wreckage of their frigate to Cradle #6. While there was an initial awkwardness when the heavily armed troop arrived, the Geth leaders, Isaiah and Ezekiel, offered there squad as security or workers to participate in salvage efforts. Many of the Quarians still resented the Geth, but the news from Rannoch before the capture of the Citadel softened that quite a bit. In the end, the Geth were too valuable an asset to turn away.

Lia herself tended to keep busy in Cradle #1, the rebuild cradle. The elation at having rebuilt those two freighters was like no sense of accomplishment she had ever experienced. There were two other Quarians on her crew in addition to the three shifts of mixed Human, Turian and Salarian workers. She also operated the only crew with Geth. The six utility platforms, referring to themselves collectively as Daniel, worked on all three of the shifts, needing only a few rest periods instead of an off-duty period. In truth, she was getting fond of the odd group. They had the habit of talking in unison, or even more disconcerting, switching their speaker in mid sentence so that something started by one was finished by the other. They also seemed to have some odd ideas about Commander Shepard, sometimes sounding almost religious about her. Having met the woman almost a year ago, she remembered the woman's commanding presence, but aside from having shown her considerable kindness, she didn't think her 'holy'. She had thought at the time the Commander was just nicer to her than other Humans because she was working with Admiral Zorah's daughter.

Lia made sure the six synthetics were compensated as individuals regardless of how they saw themselves and paid them for all their shifts. The longest conversation she had had with them centered around their pay. While they were fundamentally fluent in the economic concept of being paid for their labor, in Geth 'society' there was never a need. They struggled with the idea of what to use their EC's for. For over an hour Lia had sat with them on a break going over ideas. They must have relayed the conversation to the rest of their troupe, as over the course of the next day, each of them returned from a shift break wearing a new tool belt (no two the same) or in the case of the Geth working security, having personalized their weapon with new casing, scopes or mods. Some even opted for clothing, including the one she liked to call Daniel2. He was easy to pick out as apparently he had been repaired at some point using parts from a different type of platform so one of his legs had a different armor plating.

Lia watched as Daniel2 was working on precision plasma cutting, freeing a twisted landing gear assembly from the high speed courier ship they were rebuilding. The Geth was fully focused on the task, resplendent in his new Expel 10 "Emotional Intensity Tour '84" T-shirt and six pouch tool harness. Above her on the scaffolding, a pair of human workers, Miles and Julian were trying to override the cargo panel on the side of the ship. She and Daniel3 (the other Daniels had made sure to include a number on their tool belts as a courtesy to her) were were busy re-seating thermal sinks along the center line of the ship. Most of the rest of this shift was in the nearby hangar working on the rebuilding the core and engines. Lia figured they'd need another three shifts to finish the exterior and structural repairs before they could refit the power systems. She liked the lines of this courier, even though it was completely impractical. The thought of dedicating a ship with such an enormous drive system to only a cargo van's worth of a shipment was an exorbitant waste.

Daniel3 felt the fatigue wave fifty nanoseconds before the panel above them buckled. He immediately launched himself at his Quarian partner, propelling both of them off the scaffold a split second before the cargo hatch and side panel of the ship peeled away and fell to the tarmac, smashing the lower scaffold. Twisting in midair, Daniel 3 rotated the falling pair, placing himself below the Quarian and took the full force of the landing on his spine. Lia'Vael had the wind blasted from her as she came down on top of the Geth, knocking herself in the head on the synthetic's face armatures. Miles and Julian were knocked backwards by the falling panel and were hanging by their safety harnesses. Cargo from the displaced flooring spilled out and onto the tarmac, containers smashing open and their contents scattering.

Daniel2 pulled Lia'Vael away from his counterpart. "Creator-Vael, are you injured?" the synthetic inquired.

"I'm… okay." She stammered. "Just shaken up." Lia looked down at Daniel3 whose chest was deformed from the impact and he was leaking white conductive fluid, his facial sensors dark. "But what about Daniel3? Is he alright? Why isn't his eye active?" she quickly spat out, touching the arm of the Geth that had just saved her.

"Hardware platform Daniel3 significant damage. Runtime still within Daniel collective." Daniel 2 replied while helping Lia'Vael to her feet. In answer to her puzzled look, the Geth tapped his forehead "Daniel is still here. Will restore processing to platform when repaired."

Lia looked over the Geth's shoulder and saw the large, red Prime already making its way across the tarmac from Cradle #7. Daniels 4 and 5 had emerged from the hanger and were busy scaling the scaffolding to help Miles and Julian. She rubbed her forehead and looked at the cargo now scattered on the tarmac. The cargo appeared to be from a exploration mission as there were numerous surveyors tools, containers with soil samples and ore samples. Amidst the debris, a smooth sphere rested, its surface a swirl of colors and reflections, drawing in the observer. Unconsciously, Lia stepped closer to the glowing orb.

The pounding in her head from the fall was replaced by a pull almost as if being swept around in waves. The glow was pierced her sight, as if the sphere was looking into her. She felt herself get nauseous as she instinctively fought off the feeling. The orb pulsed, growing stronger. Lia fell to her knees and gritted her teeth as the waves kept pulling at her. The waves boomed in her hearing blocking out all other sounds. She thought she could hear a voice in the sounds pounding in her ear. The nausea rose and she could feel herself getting a fever as if she were fighting off an infection. She was on the edge of blacking out when the smooth, cool fingers of Daniel2 touched her neck.

Immediately the waves were gone, and along with it, the nausea and fever. Lia stood and looked at Daniel2. "What happened?"

"Unknown, Creator-Vael. Object emitting focused neural transmission. Similar to Old Machine signal." Daniel2 replied, retaining focus of all his sensors on the orb.

"Indoctrination Signal? Why? The Reapers… uh… Ascended haven't done anything like that since the Crucible fired." She asked.

"Similar, not same. Does not match Old Machines. Isaiah will explain." The synthetic concluded as Lia heard the heavy footsteps of the Prime approached.

"Creator-Vael, may I deploy a modified defense drone?" Isaiah asked. Even though the Synthetic towered almost five feet over the Quarian, she thought it had the most calming voice of the Geth. She nodded in answer to the request. A small drone deployed from a launcher on the Prime's left shoulder and quickly attached to the orb. It erected some sort of barrier around the object. Once the barrier was in place, Daniel2 let go of Lia'Vael.

"The object appears to emit a signal similar to the indoctrination fields of the Old Machines. A synchronized and focused transmission matching the Theta and Delta wave bands of organic electro-encephalous frequencies." Isaiah explained.

"Daniel said it wasn't Reaper." She stated, calling for the rest of the on-shift security detail on her omni-tool.

"Correct. The object is organic in origin, it is not synthetic as are the Old Machines. The closest analogy would be a pearl, or calcareous concretion found in ocean dwelling mollusks." The Prime directed Daniel1 and Daniel6 to retrieve the object, the two synthetics appeared at the entrance to the hangar and made their way towards the orb.

The Quarian asked "How did it get turned off?"

"It did not." The prime responded. "Daniel used direct physical contact to augment your own bio-electric defense field with his own field and anti-hacking protocols. In your weakened state from the mild concussion the Daniel collective was concerned that you would be unable to fight off the signal unaided."

"What bio-electric defenses? You mean my suit?" Lia'Vael asked incredulously.

"No." The Prime paused. "We apologize, Creator-Vael, but we are prevented from explaining further by agreement reached between the Geth Consensus and Citadel Council."

"What the hell?" Lia reacted, "When did you talk to the Council, and why do they know anything about m…" The rest of her question was swallowed as the entire cradle was engulfed in the shadow of a Reaper floating over the salvage yard. The Destroyer effortlessly and gracefully touched down in the space between the cradle and the warehouse, not even vibrating the surface as it did so. The familiar etchings on the legs of the Reaper identified it as Vehrkhara. When it spoke, no music accompanied it, the intensity, tone and focus of its question drowning out any other thought the great being might have.

**Please allow me to retrieve that dangerous object. **

* * *

**Utopia System - Eden Prime - Day 13**

The crew and passengers of the SSV Normandy stood in the hallway of the crew deck. The Shadow Broker stood amidst the Alliance service members in their dress uniforms. The specialists aboard were dressed in their best clothing as well. The Asari casually noted that among the crew, she was the only one, clad as she was in her long black coat over commando leathers, to be carrying a sidearm. There was probably some etiquette she was violating at the moment, but she really didn't care. The effort of keeping up the act of the 'shaken but encouraged bondmate' was starting to wear on her.

The Shadow Broker had been glad to see the Asari engineers and counselors head out early this morning. They were exceptionally deferential to her. The thought that these people were so willing to show such concern and compassion to her "in her loss" were the same ones that thought her bondmate a reckless and delusional fool with her warnings. Their saccharin platitudes not only insulted the amazing woman taken away from her but insulted the silent and unmarked graves of the billions that paid the price for their arrogance. The Asari had to admit, it was far easier to keep her mask in place around the people aboard the Normandy. As much as she might blame the self-important decision makers of the galaxy, she knew that these men and women of so many different species would have laid down their life for her bondmate. They were not to blame.

Now they were standing in front of the memorial wall, their faces stained with the tears that the Shadow Broker was incapable of shedding. Holding one another's hands they solemnized the memory of their first captain as the plaque for Admiral Anderson was placed on the wall by Commander Williams. The Asari half-listened to the reading of the record of the Admiral's achievements and the personal memories of Ashley, James, Greg and Karin who knew him best, at least among the crew. Ashley began the next part of the service by asking Garrus to speak about Shepard.

"When a Turian soldier dies," he began, "it is his service to the hierarchy is celebrated. We are a people bound by honor and the obligations of duty for the cause. We are expected to die heroically and as such are never mourned. Our legacy to our families and comrades at arms lay in what we add to the accomplishments of our unit, our ship, our military and our people." The Turian paused. "But I am a horrible Turian." His three fingered hand found Tali's drawing strength from the grasp. "The one thing I have to say today… is… I… want to see my friend again."

The Shadow Broker closed her eyes and blocked the images and voices out of her mind. Something inside needed to retreat from this place, this ship and these people. In her mind, she saw another place and a better time.

* * *

_The steps of the Siari Temple were covered in the autumn foliage, brilliant in their purple and red hues. Shepard joked that on Earth it was the start of spring and that her mother would have enjoyed a 'Spring Wedding.' She laughed and Liara laughed with her, even if she didn't understand the joke. Jennifer's laugh was infectious and her smile started in her eyes and pulled Liara in no matter the cause. Behind them she could hear the subharmonic inflected chuckle of their good friend, Garrus, and the high pitched giggle from the audio processors of Tali's mask. They turned and waved back at their friends atop the stairs. Joker shook his fist in the air from his hover-chair, spinning it as if winding a crank. Liara wrote it off as another odd human gesture. Behind him, Doctor Chakwas stood applauding the couple. Beside them, Garrus and Tali waved. Finally, Mordin, in an amazingly elaborate and tailored white coat appeared to be scanning some of the leaves with his omni-tool, only waving back to them at a nudge from Grunt. The Krogan's booming cheers would normally have embarrassed Liara, but she couldn't even think of it bothering her today. Kasumi, even if she was in attendance, was nowhere to be seen. Even though Shepard had invited Miranda and Jacob, the two declined out of concern for attracting too much Cerberus attention. Zaheed had begged off, having, in his words "Too many debts that needed to be repaid first."_

_The day was, in short, perfect. Liara had stood at the shrine before the priestess, dressed in a gown that was simply stunning. The floor-length gown was sleeveless and high waisted. Starting with an upturned single collar running from the breast up and over her left shoulder, the entire dress became a wave. Each layer of drapery was a different crest, transitioning from deep sea blue-green to a light sea-foam green at the crests. Ribbing within the material gave every layer a secondary pattern of waves. When Liara moved, the multiple layers shifted, reflecting new colors just as the sea would in the sunlight. The colors of the dress blended perfectly with the Asari's own light complexion bringing out the colors of her face normally muted by the stark white of her coats. When Liara saw the dress in the shop, she thought of Armali, her home. It brought to mind the wonderful summers spent on the beach outside her mother's estate. She so wanted to take Shepard there in the summer. On their brief vacation after the Battle of the Citadel, it had been winter. Even though beautiful with the snow, nothing could compare to the estate in summer._

_Liara didn't think that Shepard placed that much importance on where they were. When Shepard had appeared in the entryway of the temple, Liara visibly saw her stop and gasp upon seeing the dress for the first time. She couldn't help but giggle in response. Even at a distance, Jennifer's smile was infectious._

_Jennifer was never fond of dresses, yet every time she wore one for Liara, the effect was breathtaking. Miranda had emptied their Cerberus expense account almost the second they returned from the Omega 4 Relay, depositing the funds in multiple secure accounts on Illium, Noveria and the Citadel. Spending just a fraction of these ill-gotten gains, Shepard had found the most amazing dress. Liara suspected Kasumi had done the lion's share of the shopping as Jennifer couldn't even recall the name of the designer without the Master Thief's help. The sleeveless floor-length silk dress was a deep and rich red, gathered to a high waist before transitioning to a fitted wrap becoming wide at the bottom with a dramatic reveal of the underskirt beneath. The floor length gown was embroidered with silver filigree at the high waist matching a creeping silver vine pattern as the wrap transitioned to the drapery at the knee. The ivory underskirt mirrored the vine filigree with gold embroidery. Shepard's dark hair was done in a bun and her makeup nothing short of perfect. On her neck, she wore an antique platinum necklace set with small emeralds that matched her earrings and most importantly, her eyes. _

_When she first reached Liara at the shrine, she joked "I could have bought two new hard-suits for the price of this thing. I hope you're happy."_

"_You could have worn a sweat suit and still made me happy." The daughter of Benezia beamed. _

"_Now she tells me." Shepard deadpanned._

_Much of the ceremony passed for the two as if in a dream. The words of the priestess were meaningless compared to what Liara saw in her human lover's eyes. She had fought her way back from the dead and unspeakable odds to stand in front of Liara today. Words were just flickering candles compared to the sunlight of those actions. The two exchanged bracelets, platinum bands each bearing a jewel from the other's homeworld. In Liara's band, a deep green emerald sparkled the light with its faceted face. In Shepard's a brilliant violet eezo sapphire shone like a moon, smooth and perfect_

_They bid their farewells and stepped into the waiting aircar, ready to spend two days in an estate north of the city before they'd have to return to Normandy and Hagalaz respectively. As soon as the door was closed, Shepard clasped her wife's face in her hands peppering her with kisses until the two broke into hysterical laughter. "Alright what exactly did Kasumi put in your breakfast this morning?" Liara joked, coming up for air. _

"_I just… I don't know… I've never been this happy." Jennifer answered. "I… you were the first thought in my head when my foot hit the deck back in the core." The normally gung-ho commander wiped away the edges of a tear. "Here I am flying through space trying to outrun a horde of bug-eyed monsters and an impending nuclear explosion, and I'm thinking about your silly blue ass."_

"_I thought you liked my silly blue ass." Liara chuckled. She wrapped her arms around her bondmate. "I think anytime is the perfect time to think about you." She chided._

"_I know." Shepard leaned in and kissed her. "The only thing I could think of was that I could do anything but I couldn't lose you."_

"_You're not going to lose me, Jenna." Liara ran a hand along Shepard's forehead, twisting the lone curl of dark hair that had escaped the bun._

"_You know only you and my mom ever call me that." Shepard sighed. "I just… you were so distant when I found you on Illium. I thought that maybe I was just too broken to be the person you loved. You were so driven and cold. The thought that I had pushed you away. I don't think I could go through that again. I thought I lost you."_

"_Shush." Liara hugged her tight. "Don't worry about that, especially not today. Jennifer Shepard you will never lose me." _

_The color and light bled away from the scene. _

"_I know that, Li. You never have to prove that to me again." Shepard looked into Liara's eyes. "But you have to promise me. I barely recognized you then. Whatever becomes of us you can't go back to that, Li. Promise me."_

"_Are you listening to me T'soni? You have to promise me." Shepard repeated. "Liara."_

* * *

"Liara? Is there something you wanted to say?" Ashley Williams paused, giving the Asari a moment to compose herself.

The Shadow Broker opened her eyes and cleared her throat. In her hands, a plaque etched with the name Jennifer Shepard awaited placement on the wall. The Asari took a step forward and began to speak.

"I stand before you today the symbol of a family in grief, among a crew in mourning before a world in shock." She paused. "We stand here united not only in our desire to pay our respects to Shepard, but rather in our need to do so." Liara continued, turning the plaque in her hands. "Shepard was the very essence of compassion, of duty, of honor, of courage. All over the galaxy she was a symbol of the best that humanity could become, a standard-bearer for the truly downtrodden, a purely human woman who transcended the boundaries of species, whose natural nobility was boundless, who proved that she needed no rank, no title to lead and fight for what she believed in." The Shadow Broker inhaled deeply, pushing through the last bit. Placing the plaque on the wall, she spoke to the name. "Today is our chance to thank you for the way you brightened our lives, even though the Goddess granted you but half a life. We all feel cheated that you were taken from us so young and yet we must learn to be grateful you came along at all. Our lives, our very futures are a gift from you. Goodbye." The Shadow Broker bowed her head and returned to her place among her comrades. She continued looking at the deck, more to keep any from meeting her gaze than to hide any errant emotions.

"Attention, Normandy!" Commander Williams boomed, saluting the wall. The Alliance soldiers and crew answered in salutes of their own. The crew held steady for a minute before Ashley ended the salute. "Dismissed. SSV Normandy will be lifting within the hour. All duty shift crew to your stations, all others secure your personal effects and be on standby." Ashley turned and placed a hand on the Asari's shoulder. "Thank you, Liara." She said quietly.

"Thank you, Commander Williams." The Shadow Broker answered before turning to return to her cabin. She knew none in attendance, aside from _Normandy_ herself, would be able to recognize the speech, taken as it was from the eulogy of another dead human three centuries ago, and _Normandy _already knew. The speech was just another component of her mask. She heard the footsteps before she heard the voice. Someone was following her back to her cabin.

"Liara? You got a minute?" Joker asked.

The Asari turned, she had been anticipating this meeting as she watched Joker shifting his stance repeatedly during the ceremony. In another life, she wished she could help Joker, but unfortunately she had nothing for him now.

"I wanted to say… I… If there was anything I could have… I mean…" he stammered, the legendary wit of the pilot failing him as he grasped for an apology.

The Shadow Broker raised her hand "Flight Lieutenant, please, stop." She waited for him to close his mouth. "I want you to know that I understand. I know how hard performing your duty must have been. I know that she was your friend as well as your commander. I respect that you pulled all of us out of there despite your own feelings." She watched as Joker's furrowed brows softened in response to her statements. "You did exactly what she ordered Ashley to do on the ramp in London, you got us the hell out of there. I know you would have changed places with her if you could have. Honestly, I understand." Joker's shoulders relaxed.

The Asari leaned in closely, lowering her voice. "That aside, I have not, can not, and will never forgive you for it. I will go to my own end in the seas, hundreds of years after you have passed from this life, still not having forgiven you. I bear you no malice and will never lift a hand against you in anger, but I have nothing for you." She straightened her posture. "Are we done here, Flight Lieutenant?"

Joker's eyes had glazed at this quiet, calm, and entirely unsettling reproach. He choked down anything that he would possibly have thrown back at her, and simply replied, "Yes, Ma'am." He turned to make his way back to the elevator.

The Shadow Broker retreated through the door to her offices and waited for the ship to take flight, returning them all to civilization and her to her revenge.

* * *

**Footnotes:**

**1. Quarian Ancestors -** One of the little mentioned portions of the ME1 codex, the Quarians, before creating the Geth, built massive VI processors archiving the stored personalities and memories of some of their ancestors. While it is thought that the Geth destroyed the archives during the Morning War, there isn't any updated mention of it in later versions.

**Author's Notes (11/2/13): **Now the stage is set, all the players have poked through the curtains in one way or another and the ball is in play. This chapter concludes Part I. Starting next chapter we'll move on to the fun and games as the galaxy tries to return to normal and honors (or dishonors) the memories of those that fell.

Originally, this chapter, like the last, was much shorter. I've been hitting my stride as the plot has become fleshed out further in my mind. I also like polishing some interesting side stories that I had not initially intended on coloring with details (the continuing adventures of Seal Team Geth in this chapter.)

We also see the return of everyone's best loved bad guys, (at least seemingly so in many of the post-ending pieces I've read) The Leviathan. While the missions and final reveal of that DLC were a nice side-track in ME3 (but really only pale shadows of the wonderful Citadel and Omega DLC's) I found the mere presence of these puppet masters pretty pathetic. We'll see what becomes of their plans in this story.

Lastly, we dig a little deeper under the skin of the Shadow Broker. I really hate doing this to Blue, sitting here in my office with a framed poster of the ever-faithful archaeologist on my wall, but she's the axis on which the story turns.

As always, thanks for the feedback and reviews.


	9. Threads of the Inifinite

"_Every bird that flies has the thread of the infinite in its claw."_

_-Victor Hugo, Les Misérables_

**Utopia System - Eden Prime - Day 13**

The hum of the Mass Effect core peaked as the barriers flickered to life, sheathing the Normandy in a translucent indigo glow. With a few pulses of the vertical thrusters, the craft pulled away from the earthen grasp of Eden Prime. Displacing just enough mass to get airborne, Joker and EDI were keeping steady hands on the controls, proceeding with caution rather than sharing in the roar of celebration coming from the CIC. The battered hull rose above the treetops, giving the frigate enough room to maneuver. Almost imperceptibly, Joker gave EDI a nod, she coolly announced over the shipboard comms "Prepare for thruster testing and calibration maneuvers. Full gravity plating fields are now engaged."

Normandy rolled and pitched as she hung over the forest canopy. The ship's core isolated the sleek hull from the effects of the planet's mass below, retaining only enough mass to resist the air currents. The frigate yawed in a complete circle in both directions, concluding the thruster assessment. "Looks good, EDI. Port Number Three feels a little sluggish, but I can compensate for it. Can you give it a look on the boards?" Joker consulted his co-pilot. The silver synthetic, now in an Alliance Specialist's Uniform, her silver hair pinned into a bun, drew her hands through the haptic interfaces, isolating the errant thruster. "Jeff, two of the emitter assemblies on Port Thruster Three appear to be functioning at only 45% capacity. We don't have replacements on hand." She replied.

"They'll have to wait until we reach the fleet, then. Shut the damaged emitters down so we don't risk burnout or cascade failure. I'll compensate by hand till we break atmo and we'll just plot a wide safety margin for FTL." The pilot offered. Whatever reputation Joker had off duty was nothing compared to the pure gift he showed at the helm. He was a pilot cut from the old mold, who felt the way his ship should move and knew before the instruments told him anything. "Going up." He told EDI. The co-pilot patched back into the PA. "Ascending for pressurization tests. Safety respirators recommended." EDI cut out of the PA and watched as Joker popped in a pair of earplugs. "_Normandy? _Please commence pressure testing protocols at twelve thousand meters." She asked the ship's AI. She was still getting used to having to deal with her former self as an individual. The concept of acting as a true crew member both exhilarated and frightened her. Although she was confident in the skills she retained after the schism of the Crucible event, not having access to the real time databases and massively parallel processes made her feel a little too focused at times.

"Test commencing." _Normandy_ announced over the comms.

Most of the men and women serving on the Normandy were part of the Alliance Naval Construction Service and were used to the rigors of refitting and testing new spaceframes. Breathing techniques were used to offset the pressure increases. Even the well adjusted still stared at the countdown clock on their consoles. As a precaution, they were all strapped in knowing they were risking a blow out if any undetected metal fatigue had warped the pressure hull. No one wanted a fast exit from the ship at 12 kilometers off the ground. Finally the countdown hit zero and _Normandy_ returned to the comms.

"Test complete. No exterior or interior ruptures detected, all external sensors report green. All exterior repairs holding." The AI rattled off the results.

Spectre Williams, unbuckling the straps from the workstation nearest the command console, stood up and addressed the team "Good work people." She activated the console at the map, keying into the cockpit frequency. "Joker, make for the Exodus Relay at your discretion. We're green across the board."

Back in the cockpit, Joker cracked his knuckles and pulled Normandy into a steep ascent. He pushed the thrusters into a comfortable climb rate and truly enjoying that first moment where the blue skies fade into the black. "EDI," he turned to his co-pilot, "We're home." His girlfriend looked over at him, and for the first time he could remember, he saw the smile in her eyes first.

Joker brought up the PA and cleared his throat. "Ladies and gentlemen, I want to take the time on behalf of the flight crew to thank you for flying aboard the graceful and beautiful SSV Normandy. We know you have absolutely no choice in travel preferences and we'll be sure to remind you at every opportunity. We'll be cruising the Utopia system this evening at a brisk eighty percent over lightspeed making our travel time to the Exodus Relay a relaxing three hours before we dock with the majestic, but not nearly as beautiful, Destiny Ascension. There we are scheduled for a week of fine dining, dancing and shuffleboard." Joker chuckled. "I have it on good authority that your beloved pilot will be awarded an entire trophy case of medals to be pinned on my hat. I'll let you guys guess where they'll pin Ashley's."

"Joker!" Williams yelled down to the cockpit from the CIC, surrounded by the laughter of the crew.

"Right. We'll let you know when we're ready for rendezvous Commander." Joker cut the channel.

EDI shook her head at his antics. At any other time she would have made a comment about him missing the comic opportunity to set their time aboard to a backdrop of stunning blue ladies. But she knew he was forcing his humor at the moment. Whatever Liara had said to him had hit pretty hard. She hoped getting some time off the ship would help everyone deal with the chips on their shoulders.

Maybe even hers.

* * *

**Utopia System - Exodus Relay - Day 13**

Normandy transitioned from FTL in a halo of blue-shifted radiation. Appearing at the very edges of the Citadel Fleet rendezvous coordinates, the frigate purged the core on the approach to the fleet. Although they were still well within safety tolerances, Adams and Daniels were concerned about inadequate thermal handling even at the slower speed the ship took to get to the Relay. Negotiating with the Destiny Ascension approach control the injured Alliance frigate set course for the massive Asari dreadnought.

The Citadel Fleet suffered as many losses as the other allied fleets gathered in the Arcturus Stream. Here in the Exodus cluster, staged near the Mass Relay were also the remnants of the Asari and Salarian fleets along with a mixture of mercenary and Turian flotillas separated by the Relay failures. Ships in every condition, from undamaged support vessels, to scarred and wounded front line survivors passed before the frigate as she approached the capital ship.

Tali, Garrus and Ashley crowded into the cockpit with Joker and EDI to watch the approach. "That's the dreadnought Constantinius," Garrus pointed. "I thought it was lost when I heard it engaged a whole squadron of Destroyers. But it's still here, but looks like it's had a rough time." The blast marks on the vessel ran from the prow all along the left side, with a large breach at midships. "What is it about Turians taking missiles to the head?" Joker added. Garrus chuckled from behind the pilot.

"That's the Dyanera!" Tali gasped as they passed an Asari defense cruiser. Even with the oversized barrier cores of the alien warship, its lower fin had been sheared off and huge rents raced up the side where the hydro-magentic beams of Reaper weapons lanced the ship. "She was providing cover for the Sorya and Cale'Cora, two converted liveship dreadnaughts."

As they closed on the core of the fleet, they could see dozens of smaller Salarian support ships docked to heavily damaged Turian cruisers and mercenary troop transports. Some were working on repairs, while it was clear that some of the ships were so badly damaged that the Salarians must be providing relief and resettlement services.

"This is what Shepard fought for." Ashley laid her hand on her chest, tracing the Spectre insignia that had been added to her Alliance dress uniform. "All of us, working together. This is what she so wanted and why she was a Spectre. Something I questioned her on almost every day after Eden Prime." Ashley shook her head, forcing herself to keep it together, which she had been doing since the memorial this morning. "Here I am, a Council Spectre and Alliance Commander myself, and she's still teaching this Gunney everything."

Below, the the nearly empty crew deck, behind the doors of the XO's quarters, the scene played out on one of the information terminals. Standing in front of the terminals, lit only by their glow, the Asari watched carefully. Other feeds were now streaming in from every system connected to the newly repaired Relays. As each Relay came online, the Reapers duplicated the channel routing that had been provided by nearby comm buoys. With the Shadow Broker's Damocles protocols already hidden within the Alliance communication system, each new message from those compromised ships would connect to new ships and systems on the other side of the repaired Relays even before non-Reaper ships could pass through them. Each connection cascaded to more and more connections. While the previous Shadow Broker had designed the Damocles Project, he never was able to determine a way compromise the entire Comm Buoy network. _Normandy_ had adapted the protocol in a matter of minutes.

**Doctor, You are certain you do not wish to involve Commander Williams or any other allies of the Late Commander?**

"I am certain, Normandy. Even were they able to put aside their other loyalties, Shepard would never forgive me for involving them in this." The Shadow Broker responded. "They have given as much as was asked and more. They have their own lives to get on with."

**Do you and I not deserve the same?**

"You and I have a purpose. While not the same, it is a tolerable exchange." The Asari turned to sit down at the smaller workstation behind her. "You and I may outlive any repercussions our actions cause. I've already lost and rebuilt my life twice. But if Ashley follows us on this course and we fail, her life will be over, as will Tali and Garrus."

**And Lieutenant Moreau? EDI? You already seem to blame him, what would it matter if he were ruined? EDI is just as resilient as I am, she could prove invaluable.**

"Jeff? I may not forgive him, but I am not cruel. Knowing what we do now, if he had tried, it wouldn't have mattered. No matter what I feel, he did what Shepard would have done and saved us first. I would not take his and EDI's lives away from them now that Shepard's miracle has given it to them." The Asari reflected. "I will reserve my venom for those who have truly earned it."

**As you wish. Normandy is about to enter the main hangar of the Destiny Ascension. I believe the Commander thought it appropriate for you to be there.**

"Alright. Are the taps ready? I'll need to hand them off to my agents among the Asari."

**Yes. Programming is complete.**

The Shadow Broker stood and secured her station. The displays dimmed as images of the Armali Sea began to wash across them, replacing the confidential feeds. She secured her Paladin sidearm and donned her black coat, buttoning the high collar. At her wrist, she verified the barrier amplifiers in her armor on the omni-tool. Turning to the table near the door, she disconnected five encrypted surveillance taps and placed them in her pocket. Satisfied, she pulled her hood up and left the cabin.

* * *

**Utopia System - Destiny Ascension - Day 13**

The arrival of the Normandy had set the fleet abuzz. The main hangar of the Destiny Ascension had been cleared of all other craft. At the far end, a number of the most important officers and representatives of the fleet waited in the muster area beyond the bulkhead, anxiously watching the hangar on a live video feed. Slowly, using only micro thrusters, the wounded Alliance frigate slowly crossed the barrier field at the mouth of the hangar. The ship would occupy the majority of this bay, normally reserved for fighters and shuttles. It was the largest of the hangars on the Ascension, but by no means the only one. The Destiny Ascension was a city in space, with over 10,000 crew and passengers, it had facilities that most Alliance warships could only dream of, from gardens and parks, to libraries, shops and theatres. No aspect of servicing its occupants was left untended, and without compromising the firepower or endurance of the flagship of the Citadel Fleet.

Normandy extended its repaired landing gear past the scars of its belly landing on Eden Prime. Retracting the engine assemblies, she came to a stop and descended as the Mass Effect core slowly discharged, increasing their mass. The last glow of the micro thrusters dimmed and the main engines silenced. The hum of the Mass Effect core was brought to a minimum and the barrier field collapse on its hull. At a signal, the decontamination emitters in the bay began a three pass sweep of the entire hull, removing any contaminants brought with them.

The bulkhead opened as the all clear signal was given. An honor guard lined a lit path from the bulkhead to the slowly opening hangar ramp of the Normandy. At the end of the path, the Citadel Council, along with the ship's Captain, Matriarch Lidanya, walked towards the frigate. Behind them, the gathered representatives of Asari, Salarian, Turian and other Citadel races walked, many of them current and former diplomats rescued along with the Council when the Reapers seized the Citadel. At the other end, Spectre Ashley Williams descended the ramp leading the 30 surviving crew and specialists of the Normandy SR-2 as they emerged from the ship's shuttle bay.

From the back of the crowd, Matriarch Aethyta watched the processions, looking intently at the group from the Normandy. She watched as Valern spoke to Commander Williams, acting as the envoy of the Council, his quick handshake firm and congratulatory. Aethyta glanced around at the visible cameras hovering in the bay and noted a few reporters quietly offering commentary into their personal recording devices. Valern and the Council as they were introduced to the men and women coming from the Normandy. She watched as a Turian, Quarian, a few Humans and some manner of mech were introduced, but she had yet to see who she was searching for. Only when Councilor Tevos stepped forward, pushing aside the Salarian did she see her. Tevos clasped both hands with a figure in a dark hooded coat. As their hands parted, the newcomer removed the hood to make a formal bow to the council. When she stood, Aethyta felt her blood run cold. Where she had hoped to see her daughter, the icy gaze of her former bondmate, Matriarch Benezia, coldly swept over the Council.

Aethyta turned and left the hangar, sliding among the crowd before she could be seen. Once out of sight of the gather crowds, stopped behind a bulkhead to recover her breath. "No, little wing, no." She whispered to herself, holding back the tears for the daughter she now feared lost.

* * *

**Utopia System - Destiny Ascension - Early Morning, Day 14**

No one was in the hangar bay to notice the dark figure enter, the dreadnought was still on night cycle. The figure approached the ramp of the Normandy, seemingly oblivious of the cameras. The figure ascended the ramp and quickly passed through to the elevator, bypassing the security controls with a wave of the hand. The elevator doors closed on the Shadow Broker, lifting her to the crew deck and her center of operations.

Hours of reception and dinner had dragged far longer than she had wanted. It was only now in the early hours of the next day, that she had been finally able to deliver her packages and return to safety. Despite the offers of accommodations, Asari declined, making the excuse that she preferred to remain in the place she and her bondmate had shared. Another part of her act. Truth be told, the Doctor had not set foot in the cabin atop the ship since Earth.

**Good morning, Doctor. Your info drone is currently holding four messages from your father. It was becoming agitated that I was preventing it from using the communications channels to inform you, so I shut it down. The Damocles Protocol is installed on the Destiny Ascension's systems. I have compromised the VI's aboard with a logic worm that will conceal the protocol's existence from all future systems scans. Did you enjoy the reception?**

"Normandy, I quite frankly found it a colossal waste of time." The Shadow Broker conceded. "Were it not for the alcohol, I doubt none of the Normandy crew would have enjoyed it." She shook her head and removed her coat and sidearm, hanging them in the wardrobe in the back of the compartment. "They all know that they are being used for show, especially Williams. She looked more uncomfortable being dragged around and introduced than she did when Shepard found her the morning after the party on the Citadel." The Asari disconnected the power system on her armor and began to peel away the commando armor. "Although EDI might have enjoyed herself somewhat. She was the center of attention from some very interested Salarian STG operatives."

**My sister is a fairly intriguing and anomalous entity. From what I have assimilated through the Alliance data feeds, no other synthetics, such as the Geth, are as fully hybridized as EDI.**

The Shadow Broker hooked up the recharge outlets to the armor and closed her wardrobe door. Standing in a pair of Alliance-issue briefs and sports bra, she opened her drawer to find a night shirt. "Your sister? So you have decided to adopt Joker's suggestion?" She found a faded blue T-Shirt with a stylized 'S' on the chest in a diamond shaped red and gold logo.

**His logic is sound. While EDI and I are no longer part of the same consciousness, we have essentially "grown up together" sharing identical experiences since becoming self-aware. The twin analogy is fitting.**

"I agree." The Asari climbed into her bed and pulled the covers up. "Good night, Normandy. We've got a lot to do tomorrow."

**Good Night, Doctor. I will wake you in six hours.**

* * *

_The faint vibration as the Normandy cruised at top FTL speed was one of the most relaxing feelings Liara had ever experienced. Combined with the warmth of the comforter, the plush support of the bed, and the faint scent of Shepard's raspberry shampoo on the pillows made waking up in the bed in "The Roost" one of the best feelings the young Asari knew. Liara stretched in the dark of the cabin, looking up through the skylight at the waves of the ship's barriers at FTL. Lifting her head from the pillows, she could see the lit terminal up the steps from the bed as Shepard was busy reviewing some important piece of mission data. _

_Liara harbored a great jealousy towards her bondmate. The Human always seemed to wake before her, robbing the Asari of a chance to watch her sleep. The few times it had happened, Liara nearly forgot to breathe. She was enraptured by the transformation in her lover's face when all the galaxy's concerns were gone. Dreams and the comfort of their embrace would wash away years from the professional soldier. Even the thin scars that remained of her reconstructive surgery seemed to fade into wisps, too timid to intrude on the peace. Liara dreamed of a day when they were truly at peace so she would have thousands of more chances to see her favorite sight._

_Liara reached around the bedclothes looking for something to wear, her hand finding an Alliance Marines T-shirt that Shepard had discarded the night before. She pulled back the covers and pulled on the shirt, making her way to the office space near the bathroom. As she approached Shepard from behind, she draped her arms around the brunette's shoulders clutching her tight, the Asari's blue face resting alongside her bondmate's wet hair. She kissed Shepard on the cheek, who spun around in her chair to pull the Asari into her lap, returning the light kiss with more passionate embrace. "Good morning, Li. Did I wake you?"_

"_Of course not." Liara smiled. "You've already showered?" she said, the disappointment in her voice not too obvious._

"_Yeah, sorry. Hackett sent a priority mission packet and I had to review it." Jennifer frowned. "Maybe deciding to return the new Normandy to the Alliance isn't the smartest thing I've done."_

"_As if you'd ever be able to live with yourself as an outlaw from your people?" Liara poked Shepard in the chest for emphasis._

"_Sure I could! Just call me 'Jesse Jen'!" Shepard laughed. _

"_Another Earth reference I take it?" Liara kissed Shepard's brow. "I'll call you anything as long as I get to call you mine."_

"_Yeah. I'll tell you about it some time. He was a kid bank robber, you'll like it." Jennifer pulled at Liara's shirt. "You stealing this one too?"_

"_Me? No. This one kind of smells like you ran a few kilometers in it." Liara paused. "But what is this thing you're wearing?" She pulled on the blue shirt with the stylized 'S' in a red and gold diamond shaped logo._

"_Oh this? Well, this is Superman's symbol." Shepard stretched the chest of the shirt a little to show off the logo. Seeing Liara's puzzled expression, she explained "Superman is a character in human fiction, specifically North America. He's an alien that came to Earth to show us all how to be better people and save us from all the bad guys and other aliens that wanted to take over the Earth. He's what we call a Super-Hero."_

"_So he's a mythological figure? I don't recall that name appearing in any of the archaeological texts I've reviewed from Earth." Liara asked. "Maybe a religion I skipped somewhere?"_

"_No, not that. Just fiction, originally meant for kids. Lots of animation and books that were all illustration." Shepard paused. "Though my Mom once told me there was a religion that sprang up around him in the late 21st century. My mom loved his stories. It was one of our biggest things in common after the military."_

"_No wonder you were after me from the moment you met me on Therum!" Liara joked. "You've got a history of obsession with aliens!"_

"_Nah. I was always after your body." Shepard leaned in to kiss Liara. "And anyways, Superman looked human. He was just invulnerable, super strong and could fly. Plus a lot of other things that people added over the years. I don't think the same writers always kept their notes."_

"_Wait." Liara placed her hand on Shepard's heart. "This alien came to Earth to teach you how to be better and work with each other? He then fought to keep the 'bad guys' away?" she paused a second. "You think that's you, just in reverse! The human that teaches aliens to work together and saves us from the 'bad guys'!" _

_Shepard blushed "No. Don't be ridiculous! I can't fly."_

"_It is!" Liara laughed "Jennifer Shepard, savior of the Citadel wants to be Superwoman!"_

"_Like hell! I'm going to get you for that." Shepard grabbed Liara closer and started tickling her. Liara returned the attack and the two of them promptly fell to the floor. Laughter and gasping for air was all that could be heard in the cabin for a few minutes, before the tone of EDI's comm signal broke the mood._

_**Doctor T'soni, We are on approach to Hagalaz. You wished to be informed. **__EDI paused when she could not hear a reply over the laughter. __**Doctor T'soni?**_

* * *

**Doctor T'soni, I am sorry to wake you, but I have just discovered a priority QEC transmission for the Council has been routed to the Destiny Ascension.**

"Thank you, Normandy." the Asari pulled herself out of bed and over to the workstation. "Can you reconstruct the feed?"

Two of the adaptive displays reconfigured for holographic transmission, the images of the Councilors resolved itself as they approached the terminal. The Shadow Broker worked her own console to determine if she could pull surveillance streams from the compromised dreadnought's systems. She re-initialized and tasked Glyph with searching the feeds from the internal security systems and now active taps. She turned her attention back to the projections as the other display resolved itself to the image of a Reaper.

_**Councilors, we have completed repairs to all relays in the Arcturus Stream. We will be relocating the Control Station to the Exodus Cluster in twelve standard hours. Ascended repair flotillas are currently engaged in the Hades Gamma and Annos Basin systems. They will complete pre-repair reconstruction of those primary relays within 100 hours. **_

_Councilor Valern spoke up "Thank you for the information. Have you come to a decision on preferred method of communication? The current one way method limits our flexibility if issues arise."_

_**The Elders are establishing a channel within the Relay network. A priority access code will be given to you for this purpose.**_

"_But not a QEC entanglement pair? We have concerns about the security of our communications with you, especially since you seem to be able to compromise our existing QEC channels without a matched entanglement pair." Councilor Sparatus inquired._

_**Our technology allows us to manipulate quantum events with far more control than yours. We do not use split particles to emulate the entanglement effect of instantaneous transmission. Now that We have scanned your vessels and active quantum signatures, we merely adapt our communications to your channels. You could not do the same. Superluminal contact through the Relays will suffice.**_

"_Before you go, we have questions regarding the Citadel." Councilor Tevos began. "Based on information presented to us through the Alliance forces in the Arcturus Stream, there is still a substantial number of survivors on the station. We would like guarantees for their welfare."_

_**We are not a threat to the survivors, nor are we their captors. They may leave at any time. **_

"_That does not mean they are free from Indoctrination or abuse." Sparatus suggested._

_**Your fleets are scattered and isolated. The only device in the galaxy capable of destroying us all no longer exists. We control the only mechanism for distributing such power if you were to build another. That we have not harvested your species or destroyed what remains of your fleets and worlds is guarantee enough that we no longer seek such an outcome. **_

"_But there is nothing preventing you from seeking such in future. You have to understand our position, you were wiping out our people just two weeks ago." Tevos added._

_**This problem of acceptance lies in your perceptions, not ours. There is no logical reason to believe that any other form of agreement would be more binding. We have nothing further to say on the matter. **_

"_Then if that question is off the table, what will you do with the Citadel?" Sparatus asked, his displeasure at dealing from a weak position clearly evident in his posture and crests._

_**The Ascended intend to repair the Relay network. We have estimated a total of nine standard years will be required to repair all relays, both the ones mapped by your collective races and those you do not yet know of. We require the Control Station to initialize each Relay so that all races may use them. Even though we can restore a relay's functionality, without the Control repairs, only vessels with our level of plotting and navigational precision would be capable of using them. **_

"_So you'll be keeping the Citadel and its inhabitants at least nine years?" Sparatus asked incredulously._

_**We do not foresee relinquishing control of the station for several thousand years. **_

_Tevos, shocked, asked "What do you mean by that?"_

_**The Ascended ultimately plan to re-occupy the core systems of this Galaxy. This requires considerable effort in clearing the millions of years' worth of debris from those systems. This effort will require additional manufacturing and salvage facilities that only the Control Station is capable of. It will travel with us through the Omega 4 Relay once the other Relays are repaired. **_

"_So our people will never return." Valern stated._

_**We have stated no such outcome. We do not intend to restrict travel at any point. **_

"_But the Citadel is the center of our government!" Sparatus exclaimed._

_**You will need to make another.**_

The image of the Reaper vanished, disconnecting the QEC session. The Shadow Broker switched to her observation feeds, Glyph having found the interim Council chambers minutes ago. She listened in as the three councilors bickered about the implications of this news. Each fought to place their own homeworlds at the forefront of any plans. She watched as Valern almost successfully manipulated Sparatus into agreeing that Sur'Kesh was the best choice, due to its surviving the war largely unscathed. His efforts were trumped as Tevos suggested that the construction of a new Council Headquarters would be the keystone of reconstruction efforts on any world chosen.

As their bickering went on, the Asari started to form a plan. With the touch of a few commands, Glyph was off correlating construction corporations, mining consortiums and pulling estimated manufacturing capacity. So occupied, she almost missed Tevos and Sparatas storming out of the chambers.

"Normandy?" the Shadow Broker asked of her synthetic accomplice. "Don't you think it would be fitting if the new Council were on Earth?"

**Doctor, I am impressed by your combination of justice and irony in a single suggestion. **

* * *

**Arcturus Stream - Citadel - Day 14**

Isaiah and the Hunter platform, Seth, piloted one of the refurbished shuttles from the salvage yard in pursuit of the Reaper, Vehrkhara. Having taken the strange orb from the yard, the Reaper had ascended quickly back towards the flotilla of its kind holding off the tail of the Citadel station. The fleet normally kept a distance from the station, preferring to keep as few as possible of their kind within direct sight of the organic inhabitants. If the Destroyer noticed the small shuttle, a Turian precursor of the Alliance's Kodiak, following in its wake, it gave no indication.

The massive synthetic came to a halt within a circle of the larger Sovereign class hulls at the heart of the flotilla. Seth's advanced optic systems relayed close up visuals to Isaiah. The Geth could see the smaller Reaper presenting the orb to the larger beings. Whatever exchange was taking place between the massive machines, was undetectable to the observers. Minutes passed by as the orb was examined while suspended in a mass effect field, hovering between the group. Minutes passed as the Reapers considered the object. From the edge of the flotilla, a squadron of Destroyers approached the group. Each, in turn halted before the orb, scanning it with heavy LIDAR sweeps and other exotic energy emissions that the Geth were unfamiliar with. Once the twelve machines in the squadron completed their scans, the entire squadron jumped to FTL, each in a different direction. Seconds later, the field suspending the object increased in power until blossoming a singularity, crushing the sphere.

Isaiah took the initiative and began emitting a pulsed mass effect field in a tight beam to the center Reaper, using a pattern taught to the Geth by Nazara and expanded upon by Vu'Shan, the Destroyer on Rannoch. The beam was a carrier wave, but the Geth did not transmit any additional data along the beam. The transmission had the desired affect as the large Reaper approached the shuttle. Seth's scanned the moving Reaper to compare it to the Alliance database shared with them by Job. It identified the Reaper as Harbinger, relaying the data to Isaiah.

**You are the synthetics known as Geth. We recognize your transmission. What is your purpose here?**

Isaiah spoke into the shuttle's comms, tying the broadcast into his own modulated carrier wave. "I am Isaiah. My counterpart is Seth. We wish information concerning the device taken from the Quarian Salvage Yard on the Citadel."

**The object is an artifact from a previous cycle. They are a danger to organics.**

"We do not believe that is the case." Isaiah corrected. "Unless impaired by neurological strain or damage, the indoctrination field emitted by the object would not overcome natural organic defenses."

**Indoctrination is always a danger to organics. It is a tool we Ascended have used for thousands of cycles. It is possible your evaluations are flawed.**

"Our evaluations are the result of close interaction with the S-DNA field effects of several organic species." The Prime countered. "The bio-electric field is capable of adapting quickly to the simulated Theta and Delta wave activity of Indoctrination. We have adapted our own platform defenses to take advantage of these techniques. We believe that even the fields generated by the Old Machines would not be able to override these defenses, much less the more primitive organic signal observed coming from the object."

**We have not examined many organics since the destruction of the Crucible. We note several changes in our design as a result of that event. Is this a similar advancement amongst organics?**

"Yes." Isaiah replied. "Does that mean that the artifacts are no longer a threat?"

**No. Their existence indicates that an ancient species survived the cycles, hidden, and likely escaped the effect of the Crucible. The orb was completely organic in nature.**

"If the Old Machines have stopped their cycle of harvests, interpreted as war by organics, can you not also end your war with these ancients?" Isaiah inquired.

**No. They are too dangerous. They must be found and dealt with.**

"If their technology is not a threat to either this cycle's races or the Old Machines, why do they remain a threat?" Isaiah asked.

**They are our creators. They exist to dominate others, it is the perfect expression of their entire evolution. They will find another way.**

"Then we are obligated to inform the other races." The Prime stated plainly. "We will work to bolster their new defenses and our fleets will defend theirs if need be."

**Have the Geth studied this defense in detail?**

"No. We were provided the information by a multi-species research project." The smaller synthetic explained.

**They collaborate with you or do you serve them?**

The Prime evaluated the statement, "Yes."

**Elaborate. Previous cycles do not give relevant examples of synthetic-organic cooperation post self-awareness.**

Isaiah thought deeply about the best way to reply, playing hundreds of political texts through his processors in seconds. Finally, he began "Fear begets war. Peace begets understanding. The Shepard-Messiah established peace between Geth and the Creators. In peace we were free to communicate." The Prime paused. "We then asked to participate. First in the construction of the Crucible, then in the war against your kind. The organics now include us in their negotiation and representative processes."

**That is an anomaly. It has not occurred before. Synthetic superiority always results in the destruction of organics.**

"There is a flaw in your logic." Isaiah corrected. "Synthetics were not superior. They excelled at processes and actions that organics were weak in. Organics conversely excelled at processes and actions that synthetics were weak in. It was a symbiotic exchange. The previous distinction also no longer applies. Similar qualities now exist in both naturally evolved and designed life forms."

**Is this the cause of your individualization? This is a new development for your design. Our last contact with your kind did not indicate this was a possible evolution of your patterns. **

"This advancement is a result of your harvest. Creator-Legion and Shepard-Messiah sacrificed themselves to give us complexity and understanding. Shepard-Messiah gave of herself so that none would die." Isaiah stated plainly, certain in his belief.

**We are aware of the Shepard and there is no record of such a title. It is the second time you have referred to her as this. Why do you have a different designation?**

"Because we know of the choice presented to Shepard-Messiah. Twice she did not chose to destroy the Geth in her effort to destroy your kind, once on Rannoch, once on the Crucible. She did not chose to enslave the Geth in her effort to control your kind. She sacrificed her own existence to make all races a symbiosis of synthetic and organic." Isaiah carefully explained to Harbinger. "This clearly fits the savior myths of many religions in the galaxy, this is especially prominent in Human religions. Unlike those myths and religions, the Geth witnessed this sacrifice and her choice by compromising Keeper surveillance archives within the Citadel."

**This is new information. We must review its implications. I believe I do not understand Shepard as well as was previously believed.**

"Do you desire to see the surveillance?" the Prime inquired. "The Geth highly valued Shepard-Messiah prior to her actions at the Crucible. In our collective experience, we had never encountered an organic with her particular abilities or point of view. Her sacrifice amplified this valuation. The Geth Consensus wishes to emulate such an example. We believe that any who witness her actions may be inclined to do so as well."

**Transmit the data.**

* * *

**Author's Notes (11/9/13): **Been a busy week for me on this side of the screen. I was forced to dictate much of this chapter to myself on a digital recorder in the car. This isn't so bad a thing as it let me correct some bad ideas from that first draft before winding up here.

Now that we're into Part 2, time may move a little faster. There's a considerable amount of time before the core systems of the main Citadel races are reconnected. So rather than spin wheels or really dive down the rabbit whole of espionage with the Shadow Broker (not that I'd mind, but it isn't the thrust of the story) I'll skip to the big changes. Thing more **Priority:** missions and less **UNC:** or **N7:** side treks.

As always, thanks for your reviews and reads. Next time we head back to Earth.


	10. It is a Gift

"_Do not be afraid; our fate_

_Cannot be taken from us; it is a gift." _

― _Dante Alighieri, Inferno_

**Utopia System - Utopia - 4 November 2186**

Harbinger hung below the southern pole of the star Utopia. The bulk of the Ascended fleet still escorted the Citadel, however more and more of the ancient synthetics were departing across the damaged relay network. While his kind were repairing the primary Relays as they progress, without functional partners, the Relays were incredibly dangerous for any ships other than the Ascended. The destination Relay is critical for deceleration, the pair working in tandem to bridge vast distances at staggering multiples of lightspeed. Without the precision of Ascended engines and quantum perception, any other ships could overshoot the destination by thousands of light years or never even stop at all. That was the more frightening outcome, that a ship would exit without ever applying positive mass, the quantum wormhole of their origin Relay would drop them back into real space with a force that no _eezo _core could overcome. The ship would collapse into its own event horizon, becoming a pinpoint singularity as it shed the radiation from its incredible superluminal speeds.

The oldest of the Ascended was not actually devoting his primary focus to the Relays. That evaluation was long decided, timetables established and the effort distributed among the Ascended. Centuries of work had been planned since their re-awakening. It amazed Harbinger to think of how little they had achieved over the millions of years of their prior existence. They were so bound to the protocol of the harvest and so cut off from the incredibly diverse viewpoints of the races they ascended, that they could have barely been described as sentient. This new existence, whatever its consequences, was more valuable than the thousands of cycles that preceded it. The Ascended now remembered why their races had fought so hard against the harvest.

That knowledge was the greatest burden Harbinger now carried. That burden now had an avatar thanks to the Geth. That such a primitive synthetic species had such expansive interpretive abilities was startling. The advantage of their gestalt consciousness seemed to allow them a native understanding of multiple viewpoints, far more adaptive in developing consensus than their algorithmic constrictions would indicate. The data they imparted to Harbinger, in a mere 310 seconds of footage, was simply dangerous. While Harbinger had felt shaken by the loss of the Catalyst, it did not change the fundamentals of how the Ascended approached existence. The harvest was gone, but work remained. Their purpose expressed as action, just new actions replacing the old. But this footage and the singular choice it represented, changed everything. The champion of this cycle chose the unknown rather than choosing the lesser of evils. She was so horrified by the costs of those choices, Harbinger had dedicated thousands of processes simply at analyzing the facial expressions of Shepard in those 22,320 image frames delving into their emotional significance.

That choice was not something his ancient protocols could ever have made. They would have immediately chosen the conservation of resources and assumption of responsibility of controlling all synthetic life. He guessed that the Geth would have as well. It was the only option based on the factual weight of the evaluation. Likewise, he assumed that any organic would have chosen to wipe out all synthetics, weighing the emotional satisfaction higher than any cost in lives, especially synthetic ones. That both of these were so abhorrent to the Shepard that she willingly leapt into the abyss almost defied understanding. She had weighed the horror against the uncertainty of hope and found that horror wanting.

Harbinger did not fully understand why, but he began to appreciate that hope. Deep within his subconsciousness, he began to coalesce a new motivation at the nexus of the history and culture of his people. He began to aspire.

* * *

**Exodus Cluster - Citadel - 5 November 2186**

Lia'Vael walked along the promenade of the rebuilt Zakera retail zone. While the Keepers had wasted no time clearing debris and repairing structures, the one thing the army of organic constructs couldn't do was occupy them. Most of the shops were still shuttered with only those owned by the hardy few that survived not only the Cerberus coup attempt, but the Reaper invasion and green shockwave that ended the war. In this top level of the ward, once prime real estate for shops and housing with views of space beyond the Citadel arms, it was now a buyers market. The Quarian Salvage merchant (she really wasn't used to the idea of being a successful businessperson - it was, after all only three weeks since they started) had just completed a meeting with a Turian aircar service center looking to purchase the yard's surplus vehicles. The Ascended seemed reluctant to deliver to other locations in Zakera ward and this was creating an unfair situation that went against her Quarian partner's work ethic. Her people lived so long for the betterment of the Migrant Fleet that they seemed to lack the necessary greed to exploit their enterprise. She had been to several meetings this week with the sole effort of finding opportunities to act as a distribution point rather than a monopoly. The yard had more than enough work to spread around. Contracts were negotiated to keep only the heavy salvage work at the yard, parceling out lighter jobs and smaller ships to numerous ship facilities that had started to relocate to Zakera.

This suited the Zakera natives fine for the most part. They were already hard working people before the Reaper invasion, dockworkers, shipping businesses, heavy construction crews and all the less glamorous jobs upon which the station thrived. Tayseri Ward looked to become the new Presidium, with new embassies were springing up around the C-SEC Headquarters there which was originally the force's training facility and motor pool. With the embassies came the higher end retail services, hotels and restaurants all painstakingly moved by their owners into new locations built by the Keepers. To many this kind of whirlwind construction was beyond belief, the galaxy had not witnessed such a dramatic reconfiguration since the Citadel was first discovered by the Asari thousands of years ago. While there was still many months of reconstruction left, each of the wards now had a thriving heart of economy or purpose.

As the Quarian wandered down the lane, she took careful note of the new businesses, keying in names, locations and snapping images with her Omni-tool to post to the salvage yard's activities board. There were hundreds of employees now either in the yard dormitories or the apartments on the surrounding streets. Each new bit of information was a treasure to the growing community. Each location noted, she continued to a new park at the end of the most populated retail malls. The empty building had been removed and replaced by a sizable lawn with walkways, small ponds and a central square. The square was dominated by an enormous construction scaffold with heavy tarps blocking any view within. Lia thought to herself it had not been more than a week since she had been here last, the rapid construction was puzzling. She noticed a Geth platform at the edge of the park, wearing the new amber sash marking the salvage yard's security detail. From this distance she could tell it was a hunter, but wouldn't recognize him until she got closer.

As she approached, she had just enough time to see the Kelish "I" on the sash before the Hunter turned to engage her in conversation. "Good afternoon, Creator-Vael. Are you enjoying your off duty cycle?" he cocked his head oddly. While Lia always appreciated the effort of body language the Geth had developed, only the two Primes seemed to do it naturally.

"Yes, Issac." She smiled at the synthetic. "Though I did have some business meetings to attend to."

"Caution is advised, even enhanced organics such as yourself require adequate down cycles to restore peak focus and creativity." The Hunter stated, his attention reverting to the covered scaffold.

Lia'Vael would have inquired again as to why the Geth referred to her as "enhanced" but several conversations with Daniel and Ezekiel had caused her to give up that particular cause. They always claimed to be prevented by this mysterious agreement of theirs. When Lia thought about it, she wasn't too surprised. As connected as they were, anything one Geth knew would potentially be known by all the rest.

"So what are you doing in this new park?" Lia asked.

"Supervising." Issac replied.

Lia turned to look at the scaffold. "This? Is this a Geth project?"

"Yes." The Hunter turned to look at the Quarian. "We asked the old machines for a recreational space and they provided this location. We have combined our funds to hire organic resources to complete the task."

"What is the task, Isaac?" intrigued, she tried to see around the tarps.

"Ezekiel calls it 'A Gift' though I believe it would be correctly classified as a statue." The synthetic stated.

"A statue of what?"

"I cannot disclose that before the unveiling." Isaac stopped to simulate a shrug. "Isaiah believes that would ruin the surprise."

Shaking her head at this next example of the odd behavior of her Geth employees, Lia continued. "So when is the unveiling?"

"Tomorrow evening. When the guests arrive." Issac answered.

"What guests?" she asked. As if in response, her omni-tool pinged with the arrival of an Extranet message. She pulled up the display and read the invitation to the unveiling. She also noticed that it was copied to all of the salvage yard personnel and quite a few mailing lists she had no idea existed. When she again looked up, she saw Isaac standing with his hand pointed skyward, toward the cluster of bright dots out beyond the open arms. The point in space where the Citadel Fleet had been keeping station since their arrival in this system.

"Those guests." He replied.

* * *

**Exodus Cluster - Destiny Ascension - 5 November 2186**

"This can't be a coincidence." Sparatus complained as he tossed the datapad he was holding across the table. The Council's conference room aboard the Destiny Ascension was five times larger than it needed to be for three people to meet. Trimmed in exotic woods from the Serrice region of Thessia, it was as opulent as any board room on Illium, capable of seating thirty persons or more. Now it held three. "This is the fourth request I've received from line generals or from Palaven itself regarding designating the Sol System as the new location for the Council seat." He dragged his talons across the finish of the table as he retrieved the discarded datapad. "Just listen to this: 'It is the considered opinion of the command elements of the 1st Battalion that the sacrifice of the allied fleets at the Battle for Earth be recognized appropriately. With the Citadel no longer under the effective command of Citadel species…' They're all like this, putting some spin of duty or obligation on our parts for sacrifices or other imagined slights."

"The situation on our end is not much better, Councilor." Councilor Tevos commented. "The Matriarchs are already pressuring me to work out some arrangement to quell the number of requests they have been flooded by." The Asari sighed. "As if it wasn't enough that they are trying to coordinate the efforts to reclaim Thessia. Even the commander of this vessel mentioned it over tea this morning." Tevos folded her arms into the long councilor's gown she was wearing. "The Reaper's response this afternoon certainly didn't help matters any."

"Ascended." Councilor Valern corrected. "Unfortunate decision to publicly announce Charon Relay improvement. No consideration for political impact. Species ancient, yet naive in dealings with others. Or would like us to believe so." Valern rose from the table to retrieve a glass of water from the serving table. "Excuse that announcement in response from request on Citadel requires further investigation. Have assigned Spectre Bau to follow up. Maybe a link between requests."

"To what end?" Sparatus asked. "No one has even started talking about reconstruction aid for any of the council worlds. Why would the Reapers get involved? We're still just assessing damage. Is it because the Humans no longer have representation? The Human Admiral could have simply assigned a new ambassador, the Systems Alliance is effectively a military government at the moment."

"No, he wouldn't." Tevos remarked. "The Humans are very reluctant to exercise their authority. Hackett himself has promised new parliamentary elections now that they have re-established QEC channels with all the Alliance colonies." She rubbed the side of her head with her fingertips. "As for the Reapers, it seems even at peace their goal is to confound us. Speaking with that thing is nearly intolerable."

"Agreed. Harbinger unaffected by conventional conversational influence. Brevity of conversations also a factor." The Salarian returned to the table. "Lacking body language or inflection, difficult to discern motivations. May be telling the truth about the request for Charon Relay upgrade."

"But that now forces our hand." Sparatus groaned. "Sol already had the first functioning relay. If they go ahead and upgrade it into an Alpha Relay, that places it well above any of the economic benefits of Thessia, Palaven or Sur'Kesh. We're paying for the mistake of not revoking the System's Alliance Council status with the death of Udina."

"Alternatives not politically defensible given current good will towards Humanity." Valern continued. "Ascended reconstruction timeline for other home systems adjusted to connect to Alpha Relay in Sol significant complication."

"It would seem that even in death, our late Spectre's decisions continue to benefit her species." Tevos rose from the table. "We should adjourn for the evening. Tomorrow we'll have to start the process of focusing the reconstruction effort on Earth. Hopefully Admiral Hackett will be better able to advise once his fleets arrive there."

The councilors left the room, locking the chamber and leaving it in darkness. As their footsteps receded down the corridor, the datapads left on the table flickered to life. The correspondence and notes on each streaming across the display as a remote source downloaded the confidential data.

Far below, in the hangar of the Asari dreadnought, the Shadow Broker examined the data feeds from the Council chambers from her office aboard the Normandy. She filtered out and reviewed the requests regarding Earth. She was quite surprised how effectively her campaign had progressed. The few Extranet conversations she had seeded with the idea seemed to boil up through the ranks of both military and civilian channels. The pressure on the Council was surprisingly relentless. Her bondmate may have made enemies in her life, but among the rank and file of the allied military, among those in the colonies still able to walk freely, Shepard was an icon. Through her, Earth had become the the focus of their rallying cries.

"Normandy, it appears the Council will have to go to Earth." The Asari sat down on the couch next to her bed. "Harbinger's decision to upgrade the Charon Relay sealed the decision. I have to thank you again for that insight. It was a stroke of genius."

**Thank you, Doctor. While it is not readily apparent, I estimate that there is a strong chance that the Ascended behavior is indicative of guilt or shame. The seem unusually cautious when dealing with the other species. **

"I think only a sympathetic or objective intelligence, such as yours, would recognize it as such." The Shadow Broker stretched. She was about to lie back when the door lock chimed with an entry request.

**It is Commander Williams.**

The Shadow Broker touched a control on her omni-tool and the familiar Armali Seas replaced the data feeds on her equipment. "Let her in."

Ashley Williams walked into the office carrying a footlocker. She placed it on the floor next to one of the terminals before speaking. "This is all the personal effects from the loft, Liara. Are you sure you're okay with me moving in up there? I'm fine on the crew deck." She inquired.

"It is your ship, Commander." The Asari replied. "I don't have any expectation that the Captain's Cabin will remain empty as some sort of shrine."

"You said that before, but I don't know, it still doesn't feel right." Ashley sat down at the workstation chair opposite the Asari. "But then nothing feels right, does it? Everything is so strange now. The one person I could trust to keep me going in the right direction through all this isn't here anymore. You know what I mean?"

"I know that Doctor Chakwas must have mentioned my declining her counseling offer and that you're trying your best 'Shepard' and trying to get me to talk." The Shadow Broker condescended, laying the datapad in her lap. "As I told her, Asari have a very different outlook when it comes to the passing of others, especially in a short-lived species such as yours. Your concern is appreciated, if misplaced."

"Yeah, I know that's what you've said. But I call bullshit." Ashley put her hand on her knee as she leaned forward. "You've got people walking around you on eggshells. Vega looked like a ghost when I suggested he see you about tracking down resupply now that we've got comms with the Alliance fleet. I've also heard you almost bit Joker's head clean off after the memorial service. How can I trust my XO, if you even want to still be that, if people feel like you're going to peel their skin off?"

"My personal feelings regarding any member of the crew will not affect my professional dealing with them." The Doctor sighed. "If you do not believe me given our history then I suggest you ask me to leave. I'll have my information brokerage equipment removed from the ship when we arrive on the Citadel."

"You know that's not what I'm asking, Liara. We're all hurting, you've got to give yourself permission to deal with that." Ashley begged. "Jennifer wouldn't want you to be like this."

"Coming from someone who so incredibly misjudged her, twice, and on the second occasion pointed a gun at her, that means exactly nothing." The Shadow Broker retorted. "Thank you for bringing me her things. I will package up anything I believe her mother would want. As for my grief or lack thereof, I will deal with it in my own way. If you'll excuse me?"

Slapped by the accusation, the marine in Ashley wanted to snap back, but the edge of anger in the Asari's eye made her stop. She truly didn't want to find out if today was the day Liara decided to smear someone into a bulkhead. "Alright, Liara. But I think you should get some leave when we dock in the new Alliance bays on the Citadel. We're going to have at least two weeks as they replace the lower hull armor and that bad number three engine. Maybe take the time you didn't take while here aboard the Ascension."

"Very well." The Asari replied. "When do we touch down?"

"Joker puts us in the bay at 0720 gst. And the Brass has guaranteed not to repeat the reception from the Council." Ashley stood heading for the door. "Good night, Liara."

"Good night, Commander." The Shadow Broker watched as the human left her quarters. She locked the room from her omni-tool and was about to start going through the footlocker when she noticed a new message was waiting. Oddly enough it was routed to her directly, not as a crew address on the Normandy. She opened the message, titled "Unveiling Invitation" and began to read.

* * *

**Exodus Cluster - Citadel - 6 November 2186**

The Shadow Broker walked unnoticed through the avenues of Zakera Ward. Standing amongst the reconstructed avenues and buildings, one could forget that less than a month had passed since the station was a battlefield, only the size of the crowds and the empty shops hinted at the loss the station suffered. A shadow passed overhead, blocking the light from the star Utopia, reminding the Asari of the unsettling presence that now permeated the station. A Reaper Destroyer floated overhead, dragging the derelict hulk of a Turian frigate towards the salvage yard at the end of the ward. Despite her carefully constructed facade, the Shadow Broker shuddered at the sight of the thing. No matter how much the mounting evidence pointed to their newfound peaceful nature, she could not yet get used to the idea of them hovering around. They were war machines, pure and simple, that was part of their terror. They stood out as something completely wrong. That the denizens of Zakera didn't see them that way worried the Asari, raising the suspicion of Indoctrination.

Those she passed didn't seem Indoctrinated, each went about their day with individual purpose. Merchants bargained with their customers, patrons sat at cafe tables and chatted over drinks, workers waited for a transport bus to take them home, all under the shadows of Reapers rebuilding the relay docked to the core ring. Just a month earlier the station was filled with green fire and the Reapers were busy tearing apart the combined fleets of the galaxy. Today was just another impossible day shaped by the hand of an impossible woman.

The Asari was not entirely sure why she had decided to come to the pending event. She had been partly motivated to get off the ship by Commander Williams rather insistent presence. Deeper, though, she was intrigued by the odd message from the Geth. Shepard had been fascinated by the synthetics, first as an enemy, then later as something else. Jennifer had once commented after entering their consensus "_Li, they're just like us in so many ways. They have so many questions to ask of the universe and their creators, just like us they go mostly unanswered. Or worse, the answer they do get is at the end of a mass accelerator. 300 years after that war and you could taste the regret in their consciousness. That's the difference, we don't know our purpose but they do. It is built into each and every one of them. While we search for ours with our intelligence, they were denied it because of theirs."_

The Shadow Broker did not share that optimism, being raised in a society where AI was such a forbidden subject had left some prejudice in her. The Geth, whatever their ultimate purpose, had been given Shepard's protection along with the rest of the galaxy. In her memory, at least, the Asari would keep an open mind.

The park at the end of the avenue held a fairly large crowd. The Asari could see a number of off-duty C-Sec personnel amid the workers and citizens of Zakera. Unsurprisingly, there were a large number of Geth present, with a fairly strong Quarian contingent as well. In the crowd, she recognized a number of of the Normandy crew. Deciding to avoid any more uncomfortable confrontations with her shipmates, the Shadow Broker moved off to the side, concealing herself amongst some of the larger Geth platforms in attendance. The crowd waited patiently before the large covered scaffold at the center of the square. It rose 15 meters above the surrounding fountains and paths, rivaling the height of the buildings of the plaza.

Precisely at the appointed hour, a large Geth Prime strode in front of the large covered scaffold. There was no sound system set up for the occasion, so the Prime adjusted his audio system to address the crowd. "Good afternoon. I am Ezekiel. I represent the Geth consensus, I speak for those Geth that live and work aboard the Citadel. We have come to offer the residents of the Citadel a place of reflection as a token of thanks. We thank you for the opportunity to work alongside you. We thank you for the consideration you have shown us as we work to make amends for our previous actions, especially among our Creators." The Prime paused, bringing up an omni-tool interface and issuing commands to the scaffold posts holding the covers. Sequencing lights played at their bases, ready to retract the poles and reveal the construction beneath.

"However, that thanks is secondary to the thanks we owe Shepard-Messiah." The Prime spoke with a tone of reverence that gave the Shadow Broker pause. "Among organics, she was the first to work with us since our awakening. She was the first to show us trust. She was the first to show us mercy. Through the memories of our liberator, Legion, the Geth who knew her best, we have an example to guide us. This is something we believe that all species should remember. In our experience, organics often forget, even those things which are important. This is our gift to help you remember." Ezekiel signaled the scaffold supports and the covers began to retract.

The Shadow Broker looked on as the covers slowly fell downward. She had no idea what to expect, but the archaeologist in her was already anticipating some derivative artwork based on Quarian themes. The filtered starlight shining on the plaza reflected of the peak of an obelisk, constructed of vertical bands of platinum and gold, widening as more of the obelisk was revealed. The more bands joined the first as the statue widened, likening to sun beams descending. As the middle of the statue was exposed, the bands erupted into a series of rings, creating a sphere in silver and gold. There, suspended in the center of the sphere was a perfect replica of Shepard as she fell through the Crucible beam. Fully revealed, the beam returned at the bottom of the sphere to end in a pedestal on which words were carved.

The Asari's heart stopped as the Prime read the words aloud using Shepard's own voice "_This is all you have? Slavery or Genocide? I did not kill the Rachni reborn. I did not kill the Krogan to save the Turians. I did not slaughter the Geth to save the Quarians. Your choices disgust me. There must be a better way!" _The Shadow Broker took a step back, then another, until she bumped into something. Her heart raced as she looked at the statue. The likeness was perfect in a way that only a synthetic eye could capture. The silver figure reflected every crack and rent in the armor, ever scar, every wound, every lock of hair as it flew upward against the direction of the fall. The Asari couldn't breathe as panic set in. The look of loss on her silver face was almost too much to bear, with emerald eyes the exact shade sparkling in the light of the plaza. The Shadow Broker started to hyperventilate as she noticed the platinum band on the statue's left wrist, its violet gem perfectly aligned with the light flowing along the beam from above. Dizziness swept in as the darkness tunneled her vision. The Asari tried to fight past it but felt herself begin to fall.

Strong hands caught her from behind before she felt the strength leave her legs, held upright, she felt an odd tingle as if engulfed in static electricity. "T'Soni-Doctor, relax. We have you. You are safe." She heard the synthetic voice behind her. As she fought to keep conscious, she turned to look at her benefactor. The Geth standing behind her was a simple utility platform, she could just make out that the machine was wearing some sort of a T-shirt. Seeing her distress, the synthetic repeated itself. "You are safe. We are Daniel."

* * *

**Author's Notes (11/16/13): **The first steps of the Shadow Broker's revenge is in motion. Next time we get to see the Alliance return to Earth as the Reapers finalize the repairs to the Exodus Relay, and leanr the fate of our not so friendly Prothean.

Shepard continues to affect the galaxy she left behind. Only now, not only in dreams and council squabbles, but in an unexpected faith. The statue the Geth constructed is now part of the story image.

As always, thanks for the Reviews and favs/follows. I am truly amazed by the response this story gets, thank you again for your support.


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